


100 Hours

by CaithyCat



Category: Lemonade Mouth
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-27 01:05:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 40,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6263422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaithyCat/pseuds/CaithyCat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stella is failing Chemistry and needs a tutor. And who happens to be quite good at Chemistry and needs 100 hours of service credit? Find out! Rayella with a side of Scohini and Wenlivia</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Failing

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Lemonade Mouth. If I did, then Lemonade Mouth 2 would have happened and Rayella became canon.

It started with Chemistry. No, really. It all began in Stella’s Chemistry class. To get straight to the point, she was failing. Literally, failing

Hey, it wasn’t her fault that she was busy practicing for Lemonade Mouth’s upcoming Summer Tour. It was already February and even though tour didn’t start for another 5 months, the pressure was still there. As the unofficial leader of the band, she had to set a good example for her members, and encourage practice, practice, practice!

Apparently, that wasn’t a good enough excuse, as Stella stood in front the teacher’s desk with her anxious-looking teacher pacing back and forth behind the chair.

“Miss Yamada, your current average is a C-, borderline D!” Dr. Singh exclaimed.

Stella bit her lip, nervously. “There’s still time left in the semester, I can make it up!”

“Oh, you better!” Dr. Singh said, waving Stella’s test paper (another D) at the air in frustration. “Stella, you’re better than this! I know you are!”

The young guitarist snorted. _Yeah, right,_ she thought to herself.

“I’m sorry! I’ve just been busy,” she tried to reason. “And you said there would be extra credit.”

Dr. Singh stopped pacing to glare at her. “You can’t rely the fate of your grades on extra credit, Miss Yamada. A huge chunk of it comes from tests, quizzes, and homework. And you still owe me 2 homeworks, and you’ve scored zero on the last few pop quizzes! I’ve given you enough time and extensions for your homework, because of your band situation. But this is getting ridiculous!”

Stella hung her ahead, slowly feeling ashamed. “I know, I messed up. But, I’m no good at this Chem stuff. I just really don’t understand it. Olivia tried to help me, but it’s just not clicking.”

“So why don’t you come to extra help?”

“It’s every Thursday. We play at Dante’s on those nights.”

Dr. Singh brought her fingers to the bridge of her nose, and Stella felt guilty. Her chemistry teacher was one of the few teachers who legitimately loved to teach, and wanted to help the students. And she had been nothing but accommodating to Stella, but even she had her breaking point.

After a few minutes of frustrated groans, her teacher finally looked up.

“Okay, here’s the deal, Stella.” She placed Stella’s test on the desk in front of her. The giant red D glared at the sophomore, mocking her. “There are 3 more tests coming up, and then the final before the end of the semester. If you get a D or lower on those tests, you’re going to summer school.”

Stella’s eyes widened in horror. “Summer school?!” she screeched. “Dr. S, you know I can’t go to summer school! The tour-“

“Yes, your band tour starts then, I know. But if you keep getting below average in this class and neglecting your homework, no matter how many extra credits you do for me for the rest of the year, you will still fail. That is why I’m proposing a deal with you, I don’t do this with just anyone, so consider yourself lucky.”

Stella nodded her head vigorously. “Anything!”

She would sacrifice her first born child if she had to.

“Ten percent of your grade comes from class participation and right now, you are lacking in that area. However, I will give you the full 10 percent, if you can do the following for the rest of the year. I want you to strive for at least a B, no lower, on the next three tests and the final. I want you to hand in all of your homework, _on time_ , for the rest of the year, no extensions, and I’m still waiting on those 2 you missed. And, I want you to score at least 5 points on every pop quiz from now on. If you can do all these 3 things, you can bump up your D to a C. Then, and only then, can you avoid summer school. Are we clear?”

Stella felt light-headed. Get a B in the next tests? Submit the homework on time? Actually score something on a quiz? She was doomed.

“Stella?” Dr. Singh asked again. “Are we clear?”

“I… Yes… But, I don’t know how I can do that! I told you, I’m no good at this Chemistry stuff!”

The teenage girl could feel the tears prickling at her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She was Stella Yamada, damnit! She was the fearless guitar goddess of Lemonade Mouth! She did not cry!

“I’ve thought about that and I decided to find you a tutor,” Dr. Singh said, smiling at her, gently.

Stella perked up. “R-Really?”

Dr. Singh nodded. “I know you can do this, Stella. You just need the right help. Although I appreciate Miss White offering her help, you need someone with more proficiency for Chemistry.”

The teacher picked up the failed test and handed it to the now relieved student. “I need to talk to a few teachers in the Department first, but you will have one by Friday. For now, try to do your homework. You have until the end of the week to finish the two you missed and the one I gave out today.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thanks, Dr. S.”

Dr. Singh nodded. “You may go.”

Stella thanked her again before rushing out of the Chem lab, stuffing the failed test into her backpack.

* * *

“… so, now I’m getting a tutor,” Stella finished her story to the rest of the band.

They were all in their private practice room. After Mel of Mel’s Lemonade kindly donated a Music Hall to Mesa High School, Lemonade Mouth was given their very own practice room, in gratitude for using their connection to Mel to support the music and arts program. 

“Wow,” whispered Charlie Delgado, Lemonade Mouth’s drum god. “You’re doomed.”

He was smacked in the arm by Mohini “Mo” Banjaree, the band’s bass princess. “You can do it, Stella,” she encouraged.

“Yeah, we believe in you,” added Wendel “Wen” Gifford, keyboard and rapper extraordinaire.

Olivia White nodded from beside him. “I’m sorry I didn’t help you much, Stella. I’m not very good at Chem either.”

The guitar goddess smiled, gently at their shy but amazing front (wo)man. “It’s fine, Liv. At least you’re not failing, like me. I’m not smart.”

Immediately, her friends began to protest, complimenting her guitar skills, and Wen even mentioned her phenomenal English paper on _The Scarlet Letter_. Stella shook her head, inwardly smiling at how sweet her friends were.

On Wen’s other side stood Mo’s boyfriend, the ever charming back-up guitarist Scott Pickett. “Mo can probably tutor you,” he suggested.

“Oh yeah!” Mo perked up. “I don’t mind, Stella.”

But, Stella shook her head. “Mo, you have AP classes, and violin lessons, plus I know your dad has been hounding you about getting more extra credit. You don’t need the extra work on your plate.”

Mo pouted, but Stella was right. If she was to maintain her honor roll status and please her father at the same time, she had to be on top of her own school work. And, unfortunately, that meant no time to help Stella.

“Anyway, because of that, I might have to cut band practice short tonight,” Stella continued. “I have to finish 3 Chem homeworks by the end of the week.”

“Then we’ll help you while you don’t have a tutor!” Olivia piped. “Right, guys?”

Everyone nodded their heads, agreeing. Stella smirked. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get practicing so we can hit the books!”

Nothing more was heard except for guitar riffs, drum beats, piano keys, and six voices melding together to create the perfect harmony.


	2. Swallow Your Pride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stella finally meets her tutor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own "Lemonade Mouth." If I did, "Lemonade Mouth 2" would have happened, and Rayella would be canon.

Friday finally arrived. Stella had been given until the end of Friday classes to submit her Chemistry homework, and she would finally meet her tutor. So, in 6th period study hall, she furiously tried to finish the remaining questions. Beside her, Olivia was studying for history, but took peeks at Stella's homework once in a while to make sure the other girl was at least on the right track. Stella wasn't even sure if she was doing it right, but as long as she handed it in, she was a step away from summer school.

When Stella's last class of the day finally ended, her stomach was flip flopping with nerves. First, she stopped at her locker to drop off her books and pick up what she needed to bring home.

As Stella walked to the Chem lab, she tried to figure out who Dr. Singh got as her tutor.

Maybe it was one of the kids from the Science Club? They were always nice to her and sometimes offered to let her copy their homework, in return for her helping them raise funds for their rocket project last year. But, Stella was a revolutionary, the leader of a cause for the oppressed! No matter how tempting their offer was, she had morals, and she refused to take advantage of the kindness of others!

Finally, she arrived and peeked into the glass window. Only Dr. Singh was inside, grading papers. The teen knocked, before entering.

"Hey, Dr. S," she greeted. "I have the homework."

The teacher smiled as Stella handed her the missing homework. "Good, Stella. Your tutor will be here soon. He's a good student, a junior, very smart. He was in Honors Chemistry last year and was in the Top 5, so we trust that he can help you raise your grade."

Before Stella could ask who it was, the door opened.

"Alright, who's the loser I'm tutoring?"

Stella could swear that her heart stopped, as the blood drained from her face. She knew that obnoxious, spine-tingling voice everywhere. In fact, she hated that voice as much as she hated its owner.

The young revolutionary whirled around with a scowl to see Ray Beech, Mesa High's golden boy, soccer star, and resident pompous bullying asshole. He disgusted her! And he looked equally surprised and disgusted to see her.

"YOU?!" they both screeched at each other.

Meanwhile, Dr. Singh clapped as she stood from her chair. "Good, you know each other!"

The two students looked at her in disbelief. Really? She didn't know about two of Mesa High's biggest rivals?

Whenever the two crossed paths, there was always a war. Their shouting matches sent freshmen scurrying off in fright, while upperclassmen watched in either amusement or annoyance, sometimes both. Many teachers had the honor (or dishonor) of stopping their fights and sending them to detention (more Stella than Ray. If there was a soccer game coming up, Ray was sure to always get off with a warning).

As the two sent poisonous glares at each other, Dr. Singh continued to talk. "Mr. Beech here needs service hours, and what perfect way to do that than tutoring?"

Stella's head was spinning. Why Beech?! Why him?! Why the hell did Juniors need to do service hours to get to Senior year anyway?! It was unfair and inhumane!

"You can both create your own schedule, and if you have the same study hall period, you can use that time to meet up. The school library is open until 7pm every day, and if you make a reservation, you are sure to always have a table, so I advise you to take advantage of that."

She turned to Ray. "I'll sign your service hours sheet, if Miss Yamada here passes the semester."

"And if she doesn't, I suffer?! That's not fair!" Ray protested.

"And you think that he'll actually 'help' me?!" Stella also added, adding air quotes to "help." "If anything, I'm going to fail even more!"

Dr. Singh sighed. "Raymond, you said you needed service hours and you refuse to tutor the kindergartners…"

"They're loud and sticky!"

"… you don't want to help with the weekly yard clean-up…"

"I don't pick up other people's trash!"

"… and you won't collect donations for the homeless."

"Hey, that wasn't my choice! The Service Club said they had enough people!"

Stella snorted. If anything, the Service Club probably didn't want him "helping" if it meant hours of insults at their personas. Stella heard they turned away a few of the snobby junior cheerleaders too. The Service Club only wanted the willing, not the ones forced because they needed hours.

"I'm giving you this opportunity, so it's either you take it or leave it," Dr. Singh said, firmly.

Ray tried to protest again, but was silenced by the Chemistry teacher's raised eyebrow. The blonde turned to the little half-asian girl in front of him, who was still glaring at him. His face started turning red.

"Hell, no! I'll take the brats over _this_ brat!"

"I didn't want your help anyway, you jerk!"

"Good! Then we're done here!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

And with that, he stormed off, slamming the door behind him.

Stella smirked, because for once, Ray chose to turn away from her, instead of screaming at each other before they were interrupted. She won this round. But, then, the realization that she was now without a tutor sunk in. She quickly turned to Dr. Singh.

"Please tell me there's another tutor who can help me!"

But Dr. Singh shook her head. "I'm sorry, Stella. But he's the best one. I've asked the others and they all refused, except for Ray… well, until now."

Stella let out a frustrated growl. "What do I do now?!"

"I'd talk to him, if I were you. There's really no other choice here, Stella. He was the only one willing to tutor another student. It's either him, or no one. Unless, you can get a private tutor elsewhere…"

Stella was hit with a dilemma. On the one hand, she really needed a tutor so she could raise her grade so she didn't have to go to summer school and miss Lemonade Mouth's summer tour. On the other hand, she really, really, irrevocably hated Ray Beech.

"Stella." Dr. Singh's voice broke through her conflicting mind. "Just reminding you that Ray Beech was Top 5 last year in Honors Chemistry. He can help you raise your grade so that you don't have to go to summer school. Do you really want to spend a whole month holed up in here, while you friends are off in New York or Florida or California without their lead guitarist?"

With those words, Stella finally swallowed her pride and made a decision.

* * *

"Beech! Hey! Beech, get back here!"

Ray groaned at the annoying voice of his nemesis calling his name. He continued to walk towards the parking lot, but slowly this time to allow her to catch up. Why not? He could use some entertainment before heading to Dante's to meet up with the soccer team.

"What do you want, Yamada?"

The little half-asian girl finally caught up to him, a scowl on her face. "I need you to tutor me."

Ray sneered. "Hell, no."

He sped up, inwardly pleased at the struggling sophomore trying to catch up with him.

"If I don't pass this class, I have to go to summer school!"

"Not my problem!"

"I need to pass this class!"

"Good luck, you'll need it!"

Stella finally managed to catch up and block his way, holding her arms out on either side of her. Ray inwardly scoffed. As if her flimsy little arms could stop him.

"Look, I suck at Chemistry, and you're good at Chemistry. You need service hours, and I need a tutor. It works out!"

Her voice now had a hint of pleading and Ray was surprised to find that he enjoyed that she was almost begging him. The key word was "almost". The day the annoying spitfire Stella Yamada actually begged him for something, would be the day that pigs fly.

Stella was stuttering now. "Pl… Pl…"

Ray raised an eyebrow. Stella swallowed and took a deep breath.

" _Please_ ," she hissed.

And apparently, today, pigs would fly. Instead of irritation, Ray realized that he was more amused at the situation than anything. Stella Yamada, Lemon Head leader and annoying little bitch, just said "please" to THE King of Mesa High, Ray Beech.

"Let me think." Ray allowed a thoughtful look to cross his face.

She looked up at him, hopefully.

_Gotcha_ , he thought before shaking his head. "Nope, still no."

And with that, he walked past Stella's right arm, chuckling obnoxiously at her defeated face. He loved winning.

"I guess that means you're not as smart as Dr. S said."

That statement stopped Ray in his tracks as a cold feeling rushed over him. Him? Not smart? He was in the honor roll! Top 20, thank you very much!

"You probably copied off someone else to get that Top 5 spot in Honors Chem. Maybe you even copied off one of your minions' homework."

Ray Beech?! A copier?! He knew he had desperate-to-be-popular freshmen doing his bidding for him, but NEVER his school work!

Turning red and angry at her words, he turned around to defend his honor and saw her smirking! The little rebel was smirking! She knew she had him!

"Are you calling me a cheater?!" he demanded.

An eyebrow perked up. "If the shoe fits," she said. "Face it. You can't help me with Chemistry because you know _nothing_ about Chemistry. You're just another dumb jock, no brains, no academic future. Tsk. Have fun scraping the gum off the cafeteria tables during summer break."

His heart was pounding as the blood rushed to his face. Right then, he marched up to the still smirking Lemon Head, face seething and hands shaking in anger. Damnit, he couldn't believe he was actually doing this!

"Monday, after school, library. Don't. Be. Late."

And with that he turned and headed to the parking lot without another backward glance.

Pfft, him? A dumb jock? He would show her! And he would absolutely not scrape gum off the cafeteria tables!

* * *

Meanwhile, Stella's smirk widened. She didn't think that would actually work! But, as it turned out, Ray Beech was very protective of his honor roll status, and would defend it to the end.

As she headed to the music hall for band practice, Stella realized that she would be spending the next few months with Ray effin' Beech.

And she was so not looking forward to it!


	3. The Tutoring Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own "Lemonade Mouth." If I did, "Lemonade Mouth 2" would have happened, and Rayella would be canon.

The library doors opened and two teenagers were forcefully pushed out by the librarian.

"And stay out!" she hissed at them before closing the doors and locking it.

"This is unjust treatment! We have every right to be in there!"

"Give it up, Yamada. This is all your fault anyway!"

"All my fault, Beech?! You're the one who started it!"

"Because you called me a pompous ass!"

"You called me a talentless bitch!"

The blonde flasher the younger girl a smirk. "What? Did you want me to lie?"

"You jackass!" Stella shoved Ray against the concrete wall with all her might before stalking off, clutching her backpack with shaky fingers.

Meanwhile, Ray was rubbing his aching shoulder where it made contact with the wall when the spitfire sophomore shoved him. Damn, that girl was stronger than she looked!

For a second, he considered just going home. Heck, if all of their upcoming tutoring sessions were going to be like that first one, they would never get any work done! So what if she failed? That wasn't his problem! He could do something else to fulfill his service requirement.

But, Ray knew that with this late in the semester (because, really, he should have started in September!), he didn't have the time or motivation to look for a place off-campus to do his service hours. And he really didn't want to spend all of his summer break doing these hours. His parents were going to kill him if he got held back because he had been too busy with soccer to do the requirement. They might make him quit the team!

With a frustrated sigh, Ray ran after the Lemon Head, cursing his life and misfortune. He caught up to her at the school parking lot.

"Yamada! Yo! Yamada! Wait up!"

Stella let out a frustrated groan. "Ughhh! What, Beech?!" she said, turning around, a scowl on her face.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"Home."

"Your tutoring's not done."

"I thought after being kicked out of the library, it means tutoring is over. Forever."

She turned around and began to walk away from him.

Ray frowned, before an idea came to him. He called out to Stella's retreating back, "Too bad about the tour then, huh?"

Those words stopped her in her tracks. Ray smirked; he got her. Sure, he hated her and really couldn't care less if she failed and missed her band's tour. But he gave his word, and no matter how much of an egotistical jerk he was (hold your applause, please), he never backed out of his word. He would tutor her until she passed, he would get his hours and go on to senior year, and he would never have to spend another minute with her again.

"I didn't know Lemonade Mouth's guitar goddess was a quitter," he continued. "Imagine that. Telling the fans that she missed seeing them this summer because she couldn't handle a few chemical bonds and molecular polarity."

His smirk grew wider as he heard her sigh and turn around, a defeated look on her face. "Fine, where do you suggest we go? We're banned from the library!"

Ray thought for a minute. Where could they go where they were free to talk as loudly as they please without getting kicked out, but at the same time, was quiet enough where he could do some actual tutoring?

A light bulb went off in his head as he thought of a place. "Follow me."

Without waiting to see if she would, Ray turned around and headed back to the school.

* * *

It didn't really surprise her that Ray had connections within the faculty. He was, after all, buddies with Principal Brennigan. So, when he led her to the teacher's lounge and told her to wait for him while he got permission to use the Chemistry lab from whoever was inside, Stella had to admit that she was impressed at his genius to ask a teacher. But, she would never tell him that, of course.

"Tell me again the difference between ionic and covalent compounds."

Silence.

"Yamada."

"Um… Ionic is…. When electrons are… shared?"

Ray closed his eyes with a growl.

Stella had never seen Mesa High's Golden Boy act this frustrated, not since Scott had ditched Mudslide Crush for Lemonade Mouth. Sure, the two made up later on and rekindled their friendship, but Scott showed his loyalty to Mo and stayed with them. Mudslide Crush had no choice but find a replacement. That was the only time Stella saw Ray looking truly and utterly hopeless. Until now anyway…

"Transferred, Yamada! Ionic compounds are made when electrons are transferred from one metal to the other!"

"Transferred. Right. And covalent compounds are when electrons are shared."

"Yes! Finally!"

Ray took out a piece of paper and wrote down some elements, before placing the paper in front of her. "Now, use the Lewis dot structure to demonstrate the three types of chemical bonds for those elements. You do remember what those three are… right?"

"Ionic… Covalent… and… magnetic?"

"Metallic."

"Right. Metallic. Metal."

Ray nodded. "Do it."

Stella placed her pencil above the paper and paused. She looked up at Ray. "Can you do one, first?"

Ray groaned and muttered, "Amateur", but nonetheless, took the paper back and showed her how to do it.

Surprisingly, he was a very good and attentive tutor, though a bit impatient and quick to insult her, if she couldn't figure out the answer. That was what got them kicked out of the library in the first place. Though, unlike in the library, she could insult him back as much as she wanted here in the Chemistry lab; no one else was in this side of the building after school.

Unlike Olivia, who had to check and re-check her notes and textbook a few times when helping her study, Ray took one look at Stella's homework and immediately knew what to do. He wouldn't help her answer them though, said that it defeated the purpose of his tutoring if she didn't get the concept first. Besides, it was _her_ homework, not his. Stella would have slapped him, but refrained. She could kill him after she passed this class.

She did the rest of the elements and gave the paper back to the waiting tutor. After checking them, he clucked his tongue at her answers. She only got two out of the six right. In fact, she probably got them right by pure dumb luck.

"This is just the practice ones, Yamada," he said to her, quickly correcting the diagrams. "If this was your actual homework, you just failed."

Stella glared at him. "Isn't your purpose to _help_ me?"

"I am helping, believe it or not."

He explained to her once again how to do the Lewis dot structure with a demonstration. He made her explain it all back to him and when he was satisfied, he wrote down three new elements on a separate piece of paper and told her to do them.

Surprisingly, she got them right this time. Ray gave her three more and whichever ones she got wrong, he made her re-do. He kept this going for a good twenty minutes, or more. Really, at this point, she had lost track of time.

"How many more of these do I have to do, Beech?" Stella groaned.

He hummed to himself as he looked over and placed check marks next to her answers, not replying. He finished the last check with a flourish and a grin, giving her the paper back.

"None. Congratulations, Yamada, you just finished your homework."

Stella blinked at him. "What?"

Ray took her Chemistry folder and took out her worksheet that served as her homework and showed it to her. The elements listed on there were all the ones she just did. He had tricked her into doing her own homework!

"H-How…?"

Ray actually laughed before gathering the worksheet and the papers Stella was practicing on and tucking them into her folder. "I told you, you need to get the concept first before you can do the actual work. If you don't, it will just be one huge mess and you didn't learn anything. Now, you can do Lewis Dot in your sleep." He handed her the folder, cockily. "You're welcome."

 _Damn, he's good,_ Stella admitted to herself.

"Thanks," she said, and found that she actually meant it. "So, are we done?"

He nodded, beginning to pack up his stuff. "We're done." He checked his watch. "That was two hours. Ninety-eight more hours to go, Yamada."

Stella paused in the middle of stuffing her folders into her backpack. "How many hours do you even need?"

"A hundred."

Stella flinched. "Great," she said, sarcastically.

All packed up, the two students left the lab, Ray making sure to turn off the lights. There were barely any students left, which was a relief. The two wouldn't be caught dead next to each other, who knows what that would do to each of their reputations?

They walked to the parking lot in silence and Ray headed straight for his car, a shiny blue pick-up truck that glittered in the afternoon sun. It was definitely new. Stella wrinkled her nose at it and kept walking.

For some reason, Ray called out to her. "No one picking you up?"

"None of your business!"

Ray left it at that and go into his car, while Stella headed to the bus stop. Her parents were working late, and since she cancelled band practice and encouraged her friends to go home, she couldn't hitch a ride with one of them. And the last school bus had already left half an hour ago, so she had no choice but to take the city bus. As Ray's car passed her, he honked his horn at her, and drove off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! Constructive criticism welcomed!


	4. Tutoring At The Yamada's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own "Lemonade Mouth." If I did, "Lemonade Mouth 2" would have happened, and Rayella would be canon.

For the next few weeks, the two rivals met on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, after school, in the Chemistry lab, for no more than two hours. Stella had to re-schedule band practice to the other days, because Ray had mandatory soccer practice on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons (the other days of the week, he went to morning practice).

The two were civil to each other during their sessions, but remained their bickering selves during school. They had gotten detention three times already since they started their tutoring sessions, but because the music teacher Miss Reznik was put in charge, she didn't care if they used detention time to study.

And Stella had to admit that Ray's tutoring was helping. A lot. She was finally submitting her homework on time, and because she did them right after school, she had more time during the night to pay attention to her other school work. She was also scoring well in quizzes, even getting an almost-perfect score on one of them. For once, she was almost-confident that she would pass her upcoming test.

And the even stranger thing? Ray had stopped insulting and making fun of Lemonade Mouth, except for the occasional side-eye and sneering gaze. He hadn't stopped calling them Lemon Heads though. 

"I wonder what's wrong with him?" Mo had asked, one time at lunch.

Scott was beside her, stealing French fries from her tray. "Why would you think something is wrong with him?" he asked.

"Because he's been… quiet," Mo replied, still looking thoughtful. "Stella, you see him almost every day. You sure he's not terminally ill or something?"

On the other side of the table, Stella was checking her Chemistry homework. Ray was always badgering her to check her work before submitting, and though at first, it was annoying because he would glare at her from across the lunch room if he saw her not reviewing, but now it was a habit and he had stopped giving her that weird look.

"Stella?"

"Huh? Yeah, what's up?" said girl asked, not looking up from her notes.

"You spend a lot of time with Ray-"

"I don't really have a choice."

"- is he terminally ill or something? He's leaving us alone."

Stella looked up and took a quick look at said jock from across the lunch room. He was laughing and talking with his soccer team buddies, the red-head cheerleader Patty draped across his arm. He was ignoring her though, but that wasn't new. He probably had a new arm candy for that week and if he got bored, he'd be back to stringing Patty along.

Stella shrugged and took a sip from her carton of chocolate milk before responding to Mo, "Maybe we bored him. You know Beech. If he loses interest in something, he ignores it. Like poor Patty over there."

From Mo's other side, Olivia wrinkled her nose. "That's so mean. About Patty, I mean. Not us."

"That's Ray for you," Scott said, stealing more of Mo's fries. She rolled her eyes, but let him. "When we were 10, he got this remote-controlled robot that he'd been begging his parents for. A month later, he gave it to me 'cause he didn't want it anymore. He wanted this new toy car that came out."

"Woooow," Charlie drawled out from next to Stella.

"He has no concept of value," added Wen, his eyebrows furrowed.

"He's not very sentimental," Scott continued. "I'm just glad he didn't get bored of me and gave me away like that robot."

"Well, I kinda stole you from him," Mo crooned at him.

Scott laughed before leaning over to give Mo a kiss. Automatically, there were simultaneous groans from everyone at the table.

"Gross," Stella whined, making a face but inwardly smiling at the two.

Charlie simply looked away, and busied himself with his burger (he still had feelings for Mo, but he was happy that she was happy. It didn't make the sting hurt any less though).

Olivia wrinkled her nose, while Wen made gagging noises. Mo and Scott separated, laughing.

"Oh, please, like you and Wen don't do the same thing!" she said to Olivia, who flushed scarlet at the comment.

Wen just laughed and bumped Olivia's shoulder with his. "But we only do that in private, right Liv?"

Olivia didn't answer, only blushed even more, but a smile played on her lips. Stella found it so cute, she could barf.

* * *

"What do you mean we can't use the lab?!" Ray demanded.

Beside him, Stella rolled her eyes, as the senior Science Club member explained the situation.

"The state-wide science fair is coming up, and Mesa High is one of the participants," he explained, calmly. He had no qualms about talking down to Ray Beech because he was the older student in this situation. Stella could see his hand shaking a little though. "We got permission from Principal Brennigan, and we're backed by the Science department and the Board of Trustees to use the Lab for our project. If you don't believe us, you can go ask him. But whether you like it or not, the Science Club is using the lab."

"'Til when?!" Ray hissed.

"April."

Ray swore loudly, but the Science Club member simply shrugged and went back into the lab, closing and locking the door behind him. Stella swore that she heard a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, the jock turned to the guitarist.

"Now what?" he stated, running a hand through his blonde locks in frustration. "You have a test tomorrow and you need to get that B and I can get my hours!"

Stella wasn't sure either. They were still banned from the library. If they so much as took a step in front of the doors, the librarian would rush over and lock the door. But, where else could they go?

But, then, Stella got an idea. It was a crazy-ass idea. But, it was an idea.

"We can…" she begun, but then hesitated.

Ray raised an eyebrow at her. "We can what? Spill, Yamada."

Stella sighed. "We can go to my house. My brothers are at some after school thing for their little brainy minds, so there's no one to bother us. My mom should be home, but she usually keeps to herself when she's doing research. What do you say, Beech?"

Ray simply gave her a blank look before sighing in resignation. "We'll take my car," he mumbled, already walking away.

Stella silently followed him out of the school and into the parking lot. They found his car and he wasted no time in unlocking it and getting in. He threw his backpack and books into the backseat, before looking out at Stella, who was awkwardly standing by the passenger door.

"What are you waiting for, Yamada? An invitation?"

Stella pursed her lips and got into the car. Without a word, she placed her own backpack on the floor before strapping in her seatbelt. Ray plugged in his iPod and started his car. Immediately, Mudslide Crush's _And The Crowd Goes Wild_ blared from the speakers.

Stella wrinkled her nose. "Ughh, really? This obnoxious song?"

"Shut up, I wrote this song!"

He pulled out of the parking spot.

"No surprise, it's mediocre at best."

"Says the girl who wrote a lame-o song like _Here We Go_."

" _Here We Go_ is a theme for the oppressed and downtrodden! It motivates the listener to stand up against injustice and be proud!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Stella bristled. "You're just jealous because you can't write anything meaningful!"

"Why would I be jealous when my songs are awesome?"

"No, they're not, you're-"

"Can you shut up for a minute and tell me where to go?"

Stella looked and saw that they were at the stoplight, right before the entrance of the school. Begrudgingly, she gave him directions to her house. Throughout the twenty-minute drive, she only spoke to give him directions, but otherwise remained silent.

Finally, Ray pulled up to the Yamada residence. As soon as he killed the engine, Stella was out the door. She walked up the short pathway towards her house, opening her backpack's top pocket to grab her keys. Once the front door was open, she turned to see Ray walking down the pathway, looking a little hesitant and uncomfortable.

She smirked, entering her home. He was on her turf now.

"Mom?" she called out, entering the living room and dropping her backpack on the couch. "I'm home!"

She allowed herself to fall back onto the couch, sighing loudly. She was so exhausted, and she hadn't even started studying!

Ray stood awkwardly by the coffee table, looking unsure. Stella smirked at him. She loved seeing him uncomfortable. It brought her joy.

Just then, Mrs. Yamada entered the living room, clutching papers in one hand and a mug on the other.

"Hi Stella, how was… oh, who's this?"

Stella pushed herself off of the couch and walked towards the blonde-haired jock, who now stood straighter at the presence of her mom.

"This is Be… Ray, my tutor for Chem," she introduced. "This is my mom."

Ray flashed Mrs. Yamada a smile so bright, Stella thought she was going to go blind.

"Very nice to meet you, Mrs. Yamada," he said, giving a small wave. "You have a lovely home."

Stella's mom smiled. "It's nice to meet you too, Ray. I remember you from Rising Star last year. Thank you so much for helping Stella with her Chem. That's very kind of you."

"It's no problem at all, Mrs. Yamada."

Stella snorted, before passing it off as a cough. "Yeah, the Chem lab has the Science Club working on a project, so we don't really have anywhere else to study. Do you mind if we do it here?"

Her mom's brows furrowed. "What about the library? Isn't it open until 7?"

Before Stella could answer, Ray did. "Actually, the library has been full lately, and it's difficult to get a reservation. We keep trying though, but I guess Stella and I are just unlucky there."

Mrs. Yamada nodded her head in understanding. "I see, then it's fine. Do you kids need anything? Snacks? Ray, are you hungry?"

Ray shook his head. "Oh no, I'm fine, thank you."

"Stella?"

"I'm good too, mom. But if we get hungry, we can grab whatever is in the kitchen."

"Alright. Well, I should head back to my research. Ray, don't be shy and make yourself at home."

"Thank you, Mrs. Yamada."

He flashed another bright smile and Stella rolled her eyes at his over-politeness. Stella's mom nodded at her and left for her study. As soon as she heard the door closed, Stella turned to Ray.

"You can stop acting like you're nice now, she's gone," she said, going back to the couch where her backpack was. "Come on, sit. The sooner we get started, the sooner we finish, and I don't have to see your face for the rest of the day."

She settled herself on the carpeted floor and began taking out her Chemistry things.

"For once, we agree," Ray said, finally coming over to sit next to her on the floor.

Stella reached for her Chem textbook on the table and at that exact same time, Ray did too. For a second, Stella froze, her hand still on the book and Ray's on top of hers. For some god-awful reason that she couldn't determine, she felt heat rush to her cheeks and she pulled her hand away.

"Um… I'm thirsty. You want anything?"

Without waiting for an answer, Stella scrambled up and fast-walked to the kitchen, trying and failing to stop the heat from rushing to her ears too.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ray's mind was spinning. He didn't mean to accidentally touch her hand. And he didn't know why he didn't pull away before she did.

 _I'm supposed to find her gross_ , he said to himself, panicked. _Seriously, Ray, what the hell was that?_

Because the moment their hands touched Ray felt a spark that he hadn't felt in a long time. And the last time it happened?

Last year, when Stella Yamada spat lemonade at him, he had grabbed her hand holding the can of Mel's Lemonade to show Principal Brennigan what she had done. As soon as he had touched her, he felt a spark that ran pleasantly through his body; it made him dizzy. Back then, he thought his heart had stopped, and the blood had rushed to his cheeks, but of course, no one noticed because they were all too busy fighting and defending themselves from Ray's accusations.

Shaking his head free of the thoughts, Ray decided to just ignore the feeling. He removed his varsity jacket, leaving himself in a plain black t-shirt. He folded the jacket neatly, and placed it on the couch behind him. Then, he began getting Stella's stuff ready: her notes, practice sheets, and pencils. He was pleased to find that she bought more pencils, at his suggestion to use a pencil when working on Chemistry, so it would be easier to erase mistakes.

He heard footsteps and looked up to see Stella holding two glasses of lemonade. Without a word, she sat back down next to him and placed the glasses on the table in front of them. She turned to him and paused. Ray watched as her eyes roamed over his t-shirt clad form, stopping briefly at his toned arms. He inwardly smirked when he noticed her ears turning red, before she turned away from him to look at her notebook.

"So," she said, avoiding his gaze. "Where should we start?"

An idea popped into his head. A very mischievous idea.

For the next hour and a half, they worked. Ray went over her notes with her, asking her questions about the different concepts and formulas she needed to know, and explaining what she still had trouble understanding. He went over previous homework assignments and pop quizzes, insisting that she needed to know her mistakes in order to correct them.

The entire time, he made sure to "accidentally" brush his arm against hers, or lean too closely to point something out in her notes. He didn't even know why he was enjoying his little prank. He just knew that the more he saw her ears turning redder with each contact of their skin, the more he wanted to see it.

After going over the concepts, he gave her some practice problems to work with, and watched her work through them. He got her into the habit of explaining her answers as she went along, told her that it helped her remember.

It wasn't like Stella had a bad memory, but Ray deduced that she was the type who remembered things by hearing and doing repeatedly; how else was she supposed to remember song lyrics and guitar chords?

Actually, he had deduced a lot of things about her in the last few weeks, like how when she bit her lip, it meant she was struggling to remember something, or when she chewed on the pencil eraser, she was having a difficult time with a formula (he was a little disgusted at this habit). He also noted that when she figured out an answer, she made an excited squeaking noise at the back of her throat (he found this a little cute, but don't tell Stella he said that), and that she liked to move her head in sync to a song in her head.

But, up close to hear now, he noticed a few more… specific… traits. Like that tiny little mole at the back of her neck (he really hoped that wasn't cancerous). And the bits of green sticking out amongst her dark and bronze hair (most likely a previous dye job that hadn't faded completely). And that she smelled of pineapple. Ray liked pineapples.

"… go over it again?" Stella turned to him, expectantly.

Ray blinked. He hadn't been listening. "Uh… What?"

Stella flashed him a questioning look. "You okay there, Beech? You look like you zoned out."

Ray's mouth fell open and closed. "Uh… Yeah, sorry. What was it?"

Stella raised her eyebrow, and Ray realized that he had said 'sorry' to her, and not sarcastically like he normally did.

Before he knew what was happening, Stella had closed her notebook, marking her place with a pencil

"Break time," she said, getting up to stretch. Her shirt rode up, exposing a little of her stomach.

Ray found himself staring at that patch of skin, fascinated, before remembering that he was supposed to hate her and turned away.

"You hungry?" she asked, and like before, she didn't wait for his answer and headed for the kitchen.

 _When she's not yelling at me or spitting lemonade at my face,_ _Yamada isn't so bad,_ he thought to himself, as he leaned back on the couch, also stretching.

But, then a new thought came to him.

_Come on, Ray. This is Yamada we're talking about. She's the enemy remember? She stole your spotlight! Who did she think she was, coming into your school and starting a revolution? And she thought her little loser band can beat you at Rising Star? Okay, Mudslide Crush didn't win either, but if it weren't for Lemonade Mouth, you wouldn't have lost Scott! But then again, Scott had the chance to come back, and he didn't._

While Ray was debating with himself, Stella returned, bearing a tray. "Snack time!" she announced, smiling happily, placing the tray on the coffee table. She moved her notes and books, so they would have room.

Ray looked at the goodies on the tray. There were cookies, mini-cupcakes, and wafers. "Why are they all green?" he asked, confused.

Stella gave him that look of disbelief again. "It's matcha."

"Ma-what?"

Stella blinked. "You've never had matcha?"

"Yamada, I don't even know what that is."

Stella suddenly smirked. "Then, you're in for a treat, Beech! Here, try this!"

She grabbed a green cookie and lifted it to his lips. He stared at her. Was she implying that he eat from her hand? It was such a Patty-move that he couldn't believe that Stella would even think about doing it!

She must have noticed his hesitation since she lowered the cookie from his lips and broke it in half, instead. She placed one half in front of him and ate the other. Ray stared at her then at the cookie. He picked it up, examined it, and took a bite.

His taste buds exploded from the bitter taste, followed by a delicious sweetness. Ray felt like he was eating leaves, but a good kind, and the sweet aftertaste wasn't terrible.

Stella raised an inquiring eyebrow. "So?"

Ray shrugged, not wanting to admit that he liked it. "Meh."

Actually, that matcha stuff was addicting. He wondered if Stella could tell him where to get some. And he wanted to try those cupcakes next.

* * *

Stella watched in amusement as she watched Ray pretend like he didn't enjoy the matcha pastries she brought out. He was eating more cookies and cupcakes than she was. He probably would have started on the wafers if Stella hadn't grabbed the plate for herself.

They were both almost out of lemonade so she got up again to get them some more. When she returned, only one cookie and one cupcake was left. Ray looked away, guiltily, and Stella decided to skip the teasing for now.

Surprisingly, she was starting to like this act of civility between the two of them. When he wasn't being a pompous ass bent on ruining her life and Lemonade Mouth, Ray Beech wasn't so bad.

Stella reached for the cupcake and was about to bite into it when she had a thought. She proceeded to split the cupcake in half and hand it over to the surprised-looking jock beside her.

He flashed her a questioning look as he took the cupcake. She shrugged.

"I eat these all the time, and you don't so…" She shoved the cupcake into her mouth, feeling the tips of her ears heating up again. She hated it when that happened. It made her look like she had tomatoes for ears.

They split the cookie too.

"So, what was it you were asking earlier?" he asked, finishing off the cookie and licking his fingers.

Stella opened her notebook. "Molecular polarity still confuses me," she stated. "I think I need another breakdown."

So Ray explained the concepts to her again and demonstrated through examples and diagrams. When Stella finally understood the concept, they quickly reviewed everything again. They had gone past their regular two hours because of break time.

In the middle of all that, Stella's brothers came home from their after school program and at first, they had looked at Ray like he was an alien with three heads. Then, they grinned at Stella and went, "Is he your boyfriend, sis?"

Stella had turned red as a tomato while Ray laughed.

"Go away, you little boogers!" Stella yelled, grabbing a couch pillow and throwing it at the twins, who dodged it.

The two boys laughed before running upstairs to their room. Meanwhile, Ray hadn't stopped laughing that his face was turning red. Stella scowled at him before grabbing another couch pillow and started hitting him with it.

"Ow! Hey, Yamada, stop that!"

"Then stop laughing!"

"Okay, okay!" Ray exclaimed, raising his hands up in surrender. "Stop it, Stella!"

She froze. Did he just-?

"Did… Did you just call me by my name?" she asked, feeling her ears turning red again.

Ray coughed before turning away from her, his cheeks suspiciously turning red. "Um… Yeah… Uh… I should head out… I got some homework too."

"Oh… Right…"

The two got up, and Ray grabbed his jacket and put it on. Making sure he had everything, he glanced down at the papers on the coffee table. "Uh… I think you pretty much got everything. Go over them again tomorrow, before the test. If something confuses you, you can… uh… find me."

Stella's eyes widened. He never offered that before. "Really?"

"Y-Yeah. You have my digits. Shoot me a text."

She bit her lip before answering, "Okay, thanks."

He nodded before heading for the door, and Stella followed him out. She watched him walk down the pathway to his car.

Before Ray left, he rolled down his windows and flashed her a smirk. "Don't Ya Wish You Were Us?" was blaring from the speakers. Stella made a disgusted face, while Ray laughed before driving off.

Stella closed her front door and turned around to lean her back against it.

Why on earth was she feeling so… off? And why the hell was Ray acting so… weird? It was so unlike him to willingly get close to her, like he did today. In the Chem lab, he usually stayed on the opposite side of the table, and when they walked together, he'd be in front and she'd be following behind or vice versa. And what was with her and that cookie today?! He had hands, so why did she try to feed him?!

And they weren't just civil today. For a moment there towards the end, they were… playful.

They were effin' playful! And Stella's only question is… Why the hell did she enjoy it so much?!

* * *

_Is he your boyfriend, sis?_

Stella's brothers' words echoed in Ray's head as he drove home. And the way Stella reacted was kind of… cute. How her entire face turned red and her one eye was twitching.

For a moment, Ray did wonder what it would be like to be Stella Yamada's boyfriend.

"What the hell?!" he said out loud, and he pulled up to the side and stopped the car.

He grabbed his hair in frustration.

Why in the world was he wondering that?! He didn't even like that little Lemon Head. No, in fact, he hated her! He hated her ridiculous hair, her stupid clothes, her terrible band and their music, her chocolate brown eyes that judged him, her lips that were always scowling when he was making fun of her…

The seventeen-year old took a deep breath, trying to will his heart to stop beating so fast. He turned up Mudslide Crush's music even more and cleared his mind free of thoughts… dangerous thoughts…

When he opened his eyes, he was calmer.

 _Okay… I don't hate Yamada… But I still don't like her,_ he said to himself.

Nodding in satisfaction, he started his car again and drove home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoaaa, super long chapter! Please review!


	5. The Start Of Something New?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own "Lemonade Mouth." If I did, "Lemonade Mouth 2" would have happened, and Rayella would be canon.

It was just a normal Thursday lunch period for the students of Mesa High. There was incessant chatting, the sharing or exchanging of food, and laughter. Yep, it was a normal lunch day. But, not for long, as Ray soon realized. Today's lunch was going to be historic for the students of Mesa.

The unsuspecting King of Mesa was at the soccer team's lunch table, talking strategy with the guys for their upcoming match that Saturday. They had been training and practicing after school all week, and because of this, Ray hadn't seen his student, except in passing. Seeing as she just took a major test, and Dr. Singh was kind enough to give students a week off from homework after taking one, his services were not needed that week.

As their Forward, Derek, suggested tactics, Ray was trying to think of ways to shake Patty off his arm. Now that Jules had found a boyfriend in a jock from the basketball team, Patty was doubling her efforts. Her clinginess was cute the first two years. Really, Ray didn't mind. He even enjoyed the attention. But, now… Now, it was just annoying. She talked about the stupidest things that Ray didn't care about and was always giggling at nothing in particular. She agreed with everything he said and didn't offer opinions when he asked for one. She was acting like a stereotypical cheerleader, the kind you see in the movies. In short… she was boring. He hated boring.

"Beech! Beech! Where's Beech?!"

Beside Ray, Patty whined. "Ughh… what does that bitch want with you now?!"

Ray turned around to see Stella asking random students where he was. She was turning her head this way and that until finally, her searching eyes found him. He raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what they were going to argue about today.

To his surprise, Stella's face lit up and she rushed over to their table, dodging students and their lunch trays.

"Beech!" she exclaimed, stopping in front of him, panting from her run.

"That's my name, don't wear it out," Ray said with a smirk.

She growled, and Ray fought to keep himself from laughing.

As he waited for her to catch her breath, he spied a paper clutched in her hand. His eyes widened. Was that…?

Stella finally looked up, and to the surprise of Ray and his soccer buddies, she grinned, excitedly at him. She held up the paper and a giant bright red "B" stared back at him.

All at once, Ray felt something bubbling in his chest and his stomach. He wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. In fact, it was wonderful!

Before he knew what he was doing, he slipped his arm out of Patty's hold to take the test paper with both hands. He was already smiling, widely.

"You did it," he stated, staring at the giant B. "You did it, Yamada!"

He looked up right on time to see her come at him with open arms. The blood rushed to the soccer star's face as the young revolutionary hugged him… in front of the entire school.

He stayed frozen on his seat. Stella didn't seem to notice; she was too busy squealing and making little jumps as she hugged him.

And Ray… Ray found that he didn't… hate it. She was actually really warm, like pleasant warm. And she smelled like pineapple again. So when she released him, Ray was surprised and confused as well to find that he didn't want her to pull away. He actually wished that he had hugged her back.

Stella didn't notice his discomfort, only taking her test paper back from him while hopping excitedly.

"You are the man in Chem, Beech!" she exclaimed, pointing at him with two fingers.

"Excuse me?! Who gave you permission to touch Ray Beech?!"

Ray's eyes closed in irritation at Patty's screech. His mood dampened all of a sudden and the previous excitement he felt was gone. He was about to say something when Stella beat him to it.

"No one," she said to the cheerleader, smirking her signature Stella Yamada smirk. "I do what I want, when I want, Patty. So if I want to hug Ray Beech, I hug Ray Beech."

Patty sneered. "Well, you got some nerve. And I'm sure Ray doesn't appreciate that, especially from you loser. Ray, tell her she's not welcomed here."

Ray raised an eyebrow. Was Patty trying to tell him what to do? She was getting bolder, but not in the way that Ray appreciated. Maybe he should rile her up a little more, in revenge for practically gluing herself to his side throughout lunch.

He smirked and looked up at Stella, who was flashing Patty a bored look. "We should celebrate, Yamada. You wanna go to Dante's after school?"

Patty's jaw dropped in disbelief and Ray had to hold himself back from laughing. Meanwhile, his teammates were "oohh-ing" and "whoa-ing" behind him.

Meanwhile, Stella's eyebrows raised in surprise as her ears turned red. Ray really liked those red ears. But then, her brows furrowed.

"Don't you have soccer practice? You have a match coming up. Besides, we have a gig tonight."

She was right, of course, but Ray couldn't help the feelings of disappointment taking over. Nonetheless, he shrugged. "I guess I owe you then. We'll celebrate next time."

"Ray!" Patty screeched. "What is going on here?! What are you doing?!"

Ray ignored her. Meanwhile, Stella looked thoughtful, before nodding.

"I'll hold you to that, Beech."

"Stop talking to him!"

Whoa, Patty really sounded desperate now. Ray would have to leave soon, so he could laugh in private.

Meanwhile, Stella began to walk away.

"Yo, Yamada!"

She turned around, flashing him an inquiring look.

He smiled, finally realizing what the bubbling feeling was. "I'm proud of you," he said, sincerely.

She blushed and nodded. "Thanks," she simply said before finally leaving.

Ray watched as she found her friends' table and sat down. They immediately started talking at once, but since Ray was on the other side of the cafeteria, he couldn't hear what they were saying. But, seeing their quick glances at the soccer team's table, it was about him.

"Ray! What was that?!" Patty continued to scream, as she grabbed his arm and latched on. "Why did you let her hug you?! Why did you ask her to Dante's?! Who does she think-"

"Shut up, Patty," he finally snapped.

"Oohhs" came from his teammates, as he dislodged his arm from Patty's hold and stood up. He grabbed his sandwich and Turbo Blast, stuffed them into his backpack, and swung the backpack onto his shoulders.

"Don't follow me," he warned the red-head cheerleader, whose mouth was still open in shock. "I'll see you guys at practice," he said to his teammates, who nodded.

Without another word, Ray Beech left the cafeteria to find a quiet place to eat his lunch and think in peace.

* * *

"Stella, what was that?!" Mo seethed. "You hugged Ray Beech!"

Stella flushed at her band mates' reactions. Charlie and Wen were looking over at Ray's table, while Mo, Scott, and Olivia were watching her with expectant faces.

"It was just a 'thank you' hug, Mo." She showed them her Chemistry test. "I got a B! And he helped me get it. So..."

Beside Mo, Scott grinned. "That one little hug caused quite a spectacle. How did Ray feel?"

"What do you mean how did Ray feel?" Mo asked her boyfriend, with a frown. She looked over at the soccer team's table. "He just left. Obviously, he was embarrassed!"

"I don't think he was," Stella answered, as she took out the brown paper bag containing her lunch from her backpack. "He asked me to Dante's to celebrate…"

"What?!" all her friends exclaimed, their mouths hanging open in shock.

"… but I reminded him about the game. And we have the gig. Patty wasn't very happy about that though, I swear she was going to rocket-launch to the moon with all the smoke coming out of her nose."

Despite shocked, the band couldn't help but chuckle. Patty was never particularly nice to any of them, so they felt no remorse in laughing at her.

"So… you and Ray," Olivia started.

Stella opened her container of salad. "What about me and Ray?"

"You two… are you, like, friends now?" the blonde asked.

The rebellious girl stuffed a forkful of spinach into her mouth to avoid answering. In all honesty, she wasn't sure what she and Ray were. Acquaintances? Student-Tutor? Frenemies?

"You gotta be careful, Stells," Wen said. "He may be nice now because he's tutoring you for credit, but after all that is over, he's gonna go back to the Ray Beech that we all know."

"Mean," said Mo.

"Rude," added Olivia.

"A douchebag," Charlie supplied.

"Um… A guy with flaws?"

Everyone looked at Scott, who flushed. "Sorry, guys. But he's still my best friend. And, yeah, I know he's not perfect. But, he's not that bad."

Mo's brows rose high up. "Not that bad?!" she exclaimed.

Scott proceeded to stuff his sandwich into his mouth to avoid looking at her, as Mo continued.

"Did you forget when he tried to sabotage our show at last year's Bash just because we were opening for Mudslide Crush? Or when he ruined our gig at Dante's and almost got us banned? Or when he kicked you out of Mudslide Crush for helping us? Or when-"

"Mo, I think he gets it," Stella finally interrupted, taking pity on Scott. "Look, whatever Ray Beech and I are, there's nothing to it. I think we are both aware that after this semester, we're gonna go back to normal. Or, as normal as it is with us. Right now, I need the douche's help, because he's really good at Chem."

"And are you sure that that's all?" Mo asked again.

Stella smiled a Stella smile. "Yes. Now, can we talk about the gig tonight?"

* * *

The librarian stared down at the two students with piercing gray eyes behind half-moon spectacles. The two shifted, uncomfortably because of her stare, but they had no choice. They had to do this.

"If I let you two back in, you swear not to disrupt all the other well-behaved students in my library?"

"Yes, ma'am," they answered.

"No screaming at each other, and absolutely no throwing of objects, like the previous incident?"

The two students sighed. "Yes, ma'am."

The librarian scoffed, not seeming to believe them. "Alright, I'll lift the ban…"

Their faces lit up.

"… next week."

"What?!" Stella screamed. "You can't say that you'll lift the ban but not for another week!"

The librarian glared at her, but she didn't care. "I can and I will do exactly that. I want you two to learn your lesson. You can't just go around screaming and throwing things at each other, just because you disagree on something! And at a library no less! No, I'm not letting you back in until next week, and you better use that time wisely, or I'm banning you for the rest of your high school days. Now, out! You're disrupting again!"

The librarian waved them off to the exit. Stella grumbled about the injustice of it all, but left anyway, Ray following behind her. So much for begging the librarian; they swallowed their pride for nothing! Well, not nothing. At least they were being let back in. But, where were they going to study now?

"Where are we gonna go now?" Stella whined, exasperated, heading for the front doors of the school building.

"We can go to your house again," Ray suggested.

But, Stella shook her head. "Maybe on Wednesday, but not today. Mom has her research team over to discuss their work, and I'd rather not be in the middle of all that. Plus, they can get loud."

They reached the doors and stopped there. There were still a couple of students left, but they paid the two no mind. After Stella's little display of gratitude at lunch last Thursday, word had spread around that Ray was tutoring the young revolutionary. So, it no longer mattered that people saw them together after school. Besides, neither Ray nor Stella lost their street cred anyway; after all, it was still high school.

"I'd take you to my house, but I have a loud little sister," Ray said. "And unlike your brothers, she won't leave us alone."

Stella tilted her head to the side. "You have a sister?"

Ray nodded. "Yeah, she's 8."

"I hope she's nicer than you," Stella teased, with a grin.

Ray actually chuckled. "She's a menace."

"I like her already."

He turned his head to her with a small smile, a real smile. It lacked any hint of mocking or distaste like it usually was whenever he looked at her. Stella felt her heart skip a beat, and she turned away, as she felt the blood rush to her ears again.

"So, where should we go? We're wasting precious tutoring time, Beech."

Ray placed a finger under his chin, thinking. Stella began playing with the straps of her backpack, also thinking. They could invade one of the classrooms. Or maybe the gym. They could go to the music hall, but the Mesa High Orchestra had booked it for rehearsal that afternoon (she knew because Mo was in it). But, maybe they could use Lemonade Mouth's practice room, she was sure the band wouldn't mind.

"Dante's," Ray suddenly said.

Stella blinked. "What?"

"We can go to Dante's," he said.

Stella's brows furrowed. "But it's loud there. Why don't we go to Lemonade Mouth's practice room? It would be quieter."

"Well, I'm hungry."

"So?"

"So, we should go to Dante's."

"You're supposed to tutor me! I have homework due on Wednesday!"

"And we can do it. At Dante's."

"Ray!"

"Stella!"

They paused, realizing what just happened. They willingly called each other by their first names! Stella felt something strange in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't decide if it was good or bad.

Recovering first, Ray shook his head. "We'll find a quiet spot. If we don't… Well, after we eat, I'll willingly drive back here and we can use your Lemon Heads' practice room. Deal?"

Stella hesitated.

"I'll pay," Ray goaded.

And now she considered.

That was how Stella found herself following Ray to a secluded booth at the back of Dante's. It was in the farthest corner of the restaurant, and the tables around it empty. Most of the patrons preferred the sunnier tables upfront by the restaurant's entrance.

The two teens sat down opposite each other and a waiter came to give them menus and glasses of water.

"So, see anything you like?" the soccer star asked, as he scanned the menu. "I usually go for the meat lovers."

Ignoring her own menu, Stella shook her head. "Not for me. I'm a vegetarian. So it's either the plain cheese or the veggie lovers.'"

Ray raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not going to start making me feel guilty about eating meat, are you?"

Stella shook her head.

"Good."

He went back to scanning the menu.

"But, you know, the animal you're about to consume was probably screaming in agony, asking, 'Why, Beech, why?'"

She smiled when he groaned, looking annoyed. "Seriously, Yamada? This is what I get for treating you out to pizza to celebrate the B in your Chem test?"

Stella laughed. "Relax, Beech. I was joking. I don't do that anymore. Olivia talked some sense into me." She grinned. "So, did it work? Did I make you feel guilty?"

Ray pursed his lips for a second and shook his head. "Nope, still eating meat." He looked at his menu. "We can get half and half. That cool with you, or are you one of those who don't like meat touching their vegetables?"

"Fine with me."

The waiter came back. "You guys ready?" he asked.

Ray looked up at him. "Yeah, we'll get the medium, one half meat lovers, and the other veggie lovers… unless you want the cheese, Yamada?"

He looked at Stella, who shook her head. "Veggie is fine, thanks. And a glass of lemonade."

"Make that a pitcher."

The waiter finished writing their order. "It will be ready for you in about 30 minutes."

"Cool, thanks."

Stella raised her brows at Ray as the waiter left.

He must have noticed since he asked, "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Just… I have never heard you thank anyone, unless you were receiving some kind of award… and sometimes, you end up thanking yourself."

Ray shrugged. "Someone has to."

"You're vain."

"Why yes, yes I am."

"What, no comeback? No, 'well you're a bitch, Yamada'?"

He smirked. "Why repeat what you already know?"

Furious, Stella folded her arms and looked away from him. And to think she was actually starting to enjoy his company! He was still a jerk!

"Yamada, hey," he called out to her, softly.

She ignored him, nose high in the air.

"Don't be so childish, Yamada."

She glared at him, but he was grinning. "You think that was funny?!"

"I was joking!"

"Really? 'Cause with you, I can never tell. You've called me that behind my back and to my face almost every day for the past year."

Ray's grin faded, replaced with confusion, and then, to Stella's surprise and delight, a little remorse. He looked down at the table, lips pursed.

"I… Uh…"

Just then, the waiter returned with their pitcher of lemonade, two glasses, and two straws. When he left, Ray grabbed the lemonade and poured a glass, filling it to the brim and adding one of the straws. And to surprise Stella even more, he slid the glass towards her, with a 'sorry' kind of look.

Stella didn't know Ray too well, but she figured that he was the type who had trouble apologizing. Well, he was considered the King of Mesa High, why did he have to apologize?

Nonetheless, Stella appreciated the gesture, and took the glass to take a sip, flashing him a forgiving look. Ray smiled at her. She lifted her lips from the glass and smiled back. They had been doing that a lot lately… talking through gestures… smiling at each other… Ray's smile was much nicer than his smirk… And those blue eyes… Stella wondered how they were so blue... like the sky…

"So, what's the lesson for the week?" Ray asked, looking away from her and pouring himself some lemonade.

The spell was broken and Stella had to blink a few times to clear her mind. "Oh, um, hold on." She bent down to open the backpack at her feet and take out her notebook. "Kinetics and equilibrium."

Ray nodded thoughtfully as he sipped his lemonade.

"And I need help understanding Thursday's lab," she continued, showing him the copy Dr. Singh gave the class in advance.

Ray put his glass down to take the paper from here. He scanned it, quietly for the longest time. Meanwhile, Stella amused herself by twirling her straw over her lemonade, watching the pale yellow liquid swirl with the ice and bits of lemon.

"Easy peas-y," Ray finally said, giving the lab back to her.

Stella raised an eyebrow in amusement at his term, but just then, their pizza arrived.

"But, first, we eat," said Ray, turning the pizza pan around so the veggie lovers side was towards her. "Dig in, Yamada. We have a lot to work on and you need energy."

As Stella lifted a slice to her lips, she looked up at the blonde-haired jock in front of her.

"Hey, Ray?"

He flashed her a questioning look, mouth stuffed with meat lovers pizza.

"Thanks. For the pizza."

His eyes widened before nodding.

The two continued to eat in silence, sending smiles and glances at each other in between bites.

 _Yep,_ Stella thought. _I could get used to this._

* * *

Stella's next test wasn't so good. She and Ray had worked countless hours on kinetics and equilibrium, but she just didn't get it! She had walked out of her and Olivia's Chem class, feeling dejected. She was disappointed in herself. When she and the blonde arrived at the cafeteria, she avoided the soccer team's table, so she wouldn't have to see Ray. She didn't know how she could face him.

Since their pizza outing, it was no longer rare to see Stella and Ray out together, working on Chemistry. They were everywhere. The library, Dante's, the music hall, even the park one time. Sometimes, when Lemonade Mouth didn't have practice but Ray had soccer, Stella would settle herself at a spot in the bleachers, far away enough for her to not get hit by random balls, but near enough for Ray to come over in between exercises to check on her work. Other times, they worked at Stella's, where her parents and twin brothers had gotten used to seeing her "not boyfriend" Ray (and Stella always made sure they had something matcha in the house).

Except for Scott, the rest of Lemonade Mouth was still suspicious of the jock, but they let it be. Besides, they knew better than to tell Stella what to do. It wasn't like too many things changed at once.

Ray still called her a lemon head. Stella still called him a pompous jock. They still had arguments and screaming matches during school hours, but each one now ended with a smile and a "See you later." The rare times that Ray did make Stella mad, or vice versa, they apologized in gestures, since neither were very apologetic people. Ray would take her out to pizza, or Stella would bring him a Turbo Blast during soccer practice (blueberry-flavored, his favorite).

The actual state of their relationship, however, was not addressed. Whether they were acquaintances, friends, pseudo-friends, frenemies, no one really knew. But, no one bothered to ask because… well… they were Ray and Stella, two of the most-feared students of Mesa High. Their business was theirs.

It was Thursday, and Stella managed to avoid Ray at lunch and throughout most of the day. Usually, at the end of the day, the band would head home to pick up their instruments and then head straight to Dante's to set up for their 7pm gig (except for Scott due to soccer practice. Since practice ended at 5pm, he headed there right after).

"You ready?" Mo asked, as she waited for Stella to grab her things from her locker. She was catching a ride home with the Indian girl.

The locker slammed shut and Stella nodded. "Yep, let's go."

They began to walk out, talking about their day. As they reached the entrance of the school, Stella heard it.

"Yamada! Hey! Lemon head!"

The Asian girl swallowed and grabbed Mo's arm discreetly, walking faster.

"Stell, I think that's Ray-"

"I know," she hissed. "Just walk faster. I see your mom's car."

The girls practically dived into the car, with a short greeting for Mo's mother. From the corner of Stella's eye, she spotted spiky blonde hair and a royal blue varsity jacket, and she felt the guilt stabbing her deeper. After failing that test, she just couldn't face him.

* * *

"Hey, Scott, you guys playing at Dante's tonight?" Ray asked, casually as he and Scott headed for the showers after practice.

"Yeah, Thursday on the dot," the other teen answered. "You know that, man."

Ray nodded. "Right. I think I'll go tonight."

Scott raised an eyebrow at this. "Dude, you hate our music. You've been avoiding Dante's every Thursday night for the past year."

Ray just shrugged. "I could go for some pizza. I won't enjoy the music, but whatever."

But Scott was grinning at him. "Missing Stella already, Ray?"

The blonde blushed. "Shut up and shower, Pickett," he snapped, before going into his post-practice routine of calling his team pathetic and barking that they better do well during the next match or they were toast.

* * *

" _Here comes a breakthrough! Here comes a day!_ " Olivia and Mo sang, raising a hand up to the air as they pranced around the stage. " _Here comes a moment that you gotta go for it. So don't let it get away!_ "

Stella sang the back-up vocals with as much heart as she could, the rush of the performance giving her just enough boost to dance up on the stage with her band. This was what she loved about performing: the thrills, the cheer of the crowd, and the feelings of freedom it brought her. She was addicted to the rush.

 _"Shake it, till you make it, till you breaking on through_ ," they chorused. " _Don't stop, here comes a breakthrough!_ "

All three girls pumped their fists to the air.

The crowd went wild and gave them a standing ovation, whistling and "whoo-ing" for a good couple of minutes. The band, themselves, couldn't help clapping along. Stella waved her hand to signal the crowd to settle down.

"Thank you, everyone!" she said, smile wide and eyes twinkling. "We're going to take a break for a bit, but we'll be back in ten minutes. Please enjoy Dante's pizzas!"

The band took one more bow before walking off the stage, still accompanied by the applause and whistles. As they headed to the back table where their stuff was, Stella felt a gentle hand on her arm, pulling her back. She turned and the smile on her face dropped, her eyes wide.

Ray smirked at her. "Hey, Lemon Head," he greeted, releasing her arm. "Nice show up there. Of course, Mudslide Crush can do better, but it was decent enough."

Normally, Stella would scoff and make a remark about Lemonade Mouth's accomplishments in the short amount of time they were a band. But, at the moment, she couldn't find a response. She could only feel guilt.

And now, Ray definitely knew something was up, since his smirk faded.

"You, okay, Yamada?" he asked, concerned. "You've been avoiding me all day. Did I do something?"

Immediately, Stella shook her head. "No… Ray, you didn't do anything."

"Then why do I feel like I did?" he asked, and although his face was of nonchalance, his voice sounded dejected and hurt. It made Stella feel even guiltier.

Finally, she sighed. "Wait here," she said, before heading over to Lemonade Mouth's table.

They watched her, curiously. Of course, they already knew what happened, but this was a new situation and they were wondering how it would play out.

Stella grabbed her backpack and searched through the mess of notebooks and papers until she found it: the dreaded Chemistry test. Placing it flat against her chest, she went back to where Ray was standing in the corner, waiting for her. He looked at her, expectantly.

When she was in front of him, she released another sigh and look down at the floor, before handing him the paper with shaking fingers. He took it from her and scanned it.

"I'm sorry," Stella said, and she meant it. "I tried, I really did. But I just couldn't understand it. It wasn't your fault, you taught me the best you could. I'm stupid and-"

"You're not stupid, Stella."

She bit her lip.

"Stell, look at me. Come on, Lemon Head."

Sighing again, she looked up, expecting Ray's look of disappointment. Instead, she saw his smiling face. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"You got a C+," he stated.

Stella nodded.

He chuckled and Stella frowned. "Are you making fun of me, Beech?!" she demanded.

Ray held up his hands, shaking his head. "No, not at all, Yamada. I just thought... well, with the way you were acting, I thought you failed!"

Feeling angry that he wasn't making a huge deal out of her plight, Stella snatched her test from him. "I might as well have failed! I'm supposed to get at least a B to pass this class, Beech!"

"Okay, calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!"

"Okay, don't calm down. But, Stella, you can make this up!"

"How?! It's an effin' C plus! Not even a B minus! A C plus!" Stella began hitting him in the arm with her test with each word.

"Hey! Quit that! A C plus is not bad! You can make it up in the next test!"

"How?!" She continued hitting him.

"You just need to get an A in the next one!"

Now, Stella was really angry! He thought it was easy just because he was smart and in the honor roll?!

"You jerk! I can't even get a B on this one! What makes you think I can get an A?!"

Her fists had replaced the test. Before she could inflict more damage, Ray grabbed her wrists, turned her around, and gently forced her against the wall.

"Will you relax?!" he hissed, his blue eyes darkening. "You're causing a scene and you don't want to tarnish your little band's name because you're pissed off about your grade, do you?"

His words hit her full-force. He was right, of course. In this corner, their only audience was Lemonade Mouth and a few members of the soccer team, who came with Ray. No wonder Stella didn't notice them before, they were practically hidden behind a giant pillar. But Ray was right. If she raised her voice any louder and someone happened to film it, they'd have a scandal right in their hands.

Stella closed her eyes and took a deep breath, clearing her mind and thinking of running water instead. Her grandmother had the same anger issues, and this was how she taught Stella how to control hers.

When she opened her eyes, Ray was looking down at her.

"You calm now?" he asked.

Stella nodded.

"If I let your hands go, you won't hit me anymore?"

She shook her head.

"Alright."

He released her wrists and Stella rubbed them. He didn't hurt her, but his grasp was pretty firm.

"Kinetics and equilibrium is tricky, I know," he said to her. "But for someone who had trouble with it, a C plus is impressive. Did Singh say anything?"

"Nothing. Just kind of gave me this look."

"That's because she knows that you can do better. And you will. I believe in you."

She felt her stomach lurch. Before Stella could respond to that, Lemonade Mouth approached.

"Hate to break this little discussion between you guys, but we're back on in three minutes," Wen said.

Charlie handed Stella a bottle of water, and she took it from him, expressing thanks.

"I'll be right up with you," she said.

The band nodded at Ray before heading back to the stage. Ray looked down at Stella, who was gulping down the water.

"Sorry, I took away most of your break," he said.

Stella shook her head. "No, you needed to know. Better now than later. The guilt would have distracted me."

"So, in order to destroy Lemonade Mouth, all I have to do is make you feel guilty?" he teased, smirking.

Stella smirked back. "You know it takes way more than that to bring us down," she retorted, shoving the half-empty bottle into his hands and heading to the stage.

As Lemonade Mouth performed their next song, Stella's eyes flashed to the back of the restaurant, where she could see the spiky-haired King of Mesa watching them with amusement, his fingers tapping against the table to the beat of their music.

And Stella couldn't help but grin. He could deny it all he wanted... but, he definitely liked them.


	6. Playing the field

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own "Lemonade Mouth." If I did, "Lemonade Mouth 2" would have happened, and Rayella would be canon.

"A pure substance has?"

"Constant composition… and…"

"And?"

"Properties? A pure substance has constant composition and properties."

"Correct. What's the difference between Elements and Mixtures?"

"Elements are… made of more than one atom?"

"Well, yes, but… no."

"Urgh!" Stella rubbed her temples in frustration. "I can't remember!"

In front of her, Ray just shook his head, a sympathetic grin playing on his lips, as he handed her the notebook filled with notes.

The two teens were settled on the bleachers by the soccer field, Stella facing the field, while Ray sat on the seat below hers, his back turned away from it.

According to Ray, it was too nice of a day to not take advantage of the sun, so he took Stella out here to study. At the moment, the field was occupied by the women's lacrosse team, who had a tournament that weekend and were getting more practice in. A couple had tried to put their flirt on for Ray, but the soccer captain wasn't in the mood to be receptive. Stella had a test in three weeks and after her C+, he needed to make sure that she A-ced the next one.

"Come on, Stells, you got it before," he said to her.

"I know, I know!" Stella groaned, scanning the notes again. "Ughhh, why am I so stupid?!"

He didn't know why she always insisted that she was stupid, because Ray realized that Stella was actually quite smart, she just needed motivation and the right teaching method. She was confident on stage, but when it came to school, her insecurities always won. And Ray had been working on getting her to be more confident in her school work. 

"You're not stupid," Ray said, matter-of-factly.

She looked up at him with a sarcastic look. "You have way too much faith in me."

"Because I know you're not stupid. You just learn differently."

She released a sigh, propping her chin onto her hand. "I'm never gonna be good enough," she stated, looking so lost and defeated.

That look annoyed Ray. He wanted that look gone. He wanted the feeling of inadequacy that Stella was feeling gone. And he swore to do just that.

"Look, Stell, we're human beings, we're not wired to know everything-"

"My brothers do," she muttered.

He backtracked, knowing how sensitive she was when it came to her genius brothers. She loved them, but their success contributed to her insecurity. "Your brothers are a different story. My point is, don't be defeated by the facts and figures. You're smart and you learn in the way and pace that you're comfortable with. That's what we're doing right now. So you have to stop thinking that you're stupid, because you're not. You just need to believe in yourself. I mean, sometimes, I feel like I'm not smart enough for med school. But I wouldn't really know since I haven't tried yet."

When he was done, and feeling especially proud of his speech, he looked at her expectantly. She had her head tilted to the side in interest.

"You want to go to med school?" she asked, smiling.

Ray suddenly felt embarrassed. He never really told anyone that before… Well, except for Scott. But that was Scott. The guy was his best friend since the first grade.

But, then again, Stella was pretty easy to talk to.

"Yeah…." he continued. "That's why I like science, I wanna be a doctor, like my mom. She's a pediatrician. She has her own private practice downtown. I… when I was little, she used to tell me stories about all the cool things she gets to do, and all the people she's saved… I wanted to be like her. Everyone thinks that I want to be a rock star or make soccer a full-time career or go into business like my dad. But… none of that really has an appeal to me. I don't know… I just… want to be like my mom."

He turned away, embarrassed and conscious of the reddening of his face. She was probably going to laugh at him, call him ridiculous.

But Stella didn't. In fact, she nodded with a smile. "Would you look at that? Ray Beech, soccer star and king of Mesa does have a heart after all," she teased, but not maliciously. "Next time you're over my place, you should talk to my dad. I'm sure he can give you tips about med school."

Ray looked up at her. "What about you? What do you want to do?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't really thought that far ahead yet."

"Well, you don't need to know now. Right now, you just A-ce this test and prove to yourself that you have what it takes. I believe in you."

Stella's smile widened, as a faint blush appeared on her cheeks, a pretty contrast to her tanned skin.

"Now," he tapped her notebook. "Back to studying with you."

Stella stuck her tongue out, playfully, at him and resumed to reading her notes.

Ray watched as her lips moved, mouthing the words to herself.

For a minute, Ray wondered what she would taste like. He blamed hormones. Ever since he started tutoring Stella, he hadn't taken a girl out, or propositioned a make-out session, or even flirted with a girl! In fact, he began finding the girls he hung out with rather… dull and boring. They just didn't have fire… No bite… They were boring… Not like Stella…

His excuse, of course, was that he didn't have time for girls. But, even Ray knew that that was preposterous. Ray Beech always had time for girls! But at this point, he only ever had time for one girl…

"Okay! I think I got it!"

Ray was interrupted from his musings by Stella handing the notebook back to him.

She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes closed tight. "Elements are made of the same atoms with the same atomic number. They can't be broken down. So… hydrogen and oxygen are two examples."

"Good. And Mixtures?"

"They are made of two or more different substances, and they can be broken down into separate compounds-"

"Wrong."

Stella's eyes flew open. "What? How?"

"They can be broken down into two separate substances."

"What's the difference?"

"They're two completely different concepts, Yamada. In Chemistry, you can't just throw around words because they sound right, you should know that, you're great at English! And didn't you learn from your last lab report?"

With a groan, the Asian girl bent over hugging her knees. "I'm doomed."

Ray raised an eyebrow at her dramatization. "No, you're not. You almost have it, and there's three weeks until the test. Just relax."

Stella released a whine and he could understand her frustration. They had been studying for almost 3 hours now, since school let out. She was probably exhausted, and Ray could sympathize. She really wanted to do well on this test and prove herself.

He heard a growl and he saw her ears had turned pink in embarrassment. Apparently, she was also hungry.

"You want to go to Dante's?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Don't wanna move," her muffled voice answered.

"Well, what about a snack from the vending machine?"

Stella's head raised slightly to look at him with bleary eyes and pouty lips. "Chocolate-covered raisins?" she asked, hopefully.

Ray chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Sure, kid."

"I'm not a kid!"

 _No, you are most definitely not,_ Ray thought, but didn't say out loud. Instead, he just smirked before going down the bleachers to head to the ticket booths, where the vending machines were waiting for him to grab the goods needed to satisfy his Stella's sweet cravings.

 _Since when did she become 'my' Stella?_ He asked himself, scanning the machine for the candy. _Since she became my student… since I realized that she wasn't the person I thought she was… since she introduced me to matcha… since… since she came to Mesa High and challenged my rule…_

Ray paused, in thought. Did he? Did he really start liking her since the first day she came into Mesa? He admit, he did kind of checked her out when he saw her; he thought she was cute and the "Question Authority" shirt intrigued him. He had been planning on sweet-talking her the first chance he got, but then she had gone ahead and gotten detention and formed a band that rivaled his. It only made sense to hate her.

But now… now hate was the last thing he felt.

* * *

"My lady, your chocolate-covered raisins are here."

Stella looked up gratefully and reached for the pack, but Ray pulled it away. "Element, compound, or mixture?"

She glared. "Ray!"

"Nuh-uh. Answer it. With an explanation."

Stella racked her brains. "Um… It's two different elements… you can separate them into two different substances…. a mixture… but, wait, that means breaking the chocolate to get the raisin, so it can't be… It's a compound… Right?"

She looked up at him, hopefully. For a moment, he just stood there, staring before breaking into a smile and handing her the pack.

"Correct."

Stella raised her arms in victory, and Ray laughed as he re-occupied his spot on the bleachers and opened his own pack of trailer mix. The guitarist couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips now. Ray laughed a lot when he was with her… not at her… but with her and because of her… She liked his laugh when it wasn't mocking or hurtful.

As they silently finished their snacks, washing them away with cans of Mel's Lemonade that Stella always kept in her backpack, the women's lacrosse team was finishing up their practice and leaving the field. Soon, it was just Ray and Stella, and a few skateboarders hanging out by the basketball court, but they didn't pay the two any attention.

After a few more minutes of them just staring at the field, enjoying the comfortable silence, Ray looked up at her.

"Are you tired?" he asked. "We can call it quits for the day."

At his words, Stella couldn't stop herself from releasing a loud sigh of relief. "Yes, please! My head hurts so much!"

Ray looked out into the field, and before she could suggest heading for home, he stood up and turned to her.

"Follow me? I want to do something. "

Tilting her head to side in curiosity, she said, "Sure."

Grabbing their things, Stella followed him down the bleachers. He removed his varsity jacket and placed it along with his stuff on a bench at the bottom and implored her to do the same, before leading her out into the field. A stray soccer ball was there and he dribbled it up to the air with his foot and caught it in his hands.

He turned to her. "Let's play."

"Huh?" was her response with a look of pure disbelief. "Beech, you know I have no athletic bone in my body."

"Exercise is good for you, Yamada."

"I exercise!" she insisted, turning red.

He smirked. "Oh, really? Then you wouldn't mind playing with me."

"I… I don't know how!"

"Then this is another opportunity for you to learn from my expertise. Congratulations, Yamada! You're learning basic soccer skills from THE Ray Beech, the youngest captain in all of Mesa High history!"

Stella crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, pretending to be annoyed. "Oh, joy," she said in a sarcastic tone.

Ray placed the ball on the ground and kicked it around her in a circle. "This is how you dribble," he explained. "Keep it in between your feet and alternate kicking."

He stopped in front of her and gestured to the ball. "Your turn."

"I can't do it."

"Just humor me, Stella." He pouted. "Please?"

He really did pull at her heartstrings whenever he did that (but don't tell Ray!).

Sighing, Stella uncrossed her arms. Re-calling how he did it, she kicked the ball. It went too far and Ray went to get it. He dribbled the ball back to her feet and this time, demonstrated how much force to exert with her feet, how to change direction, and how to control the ball.

She wasn't sure how long they were in the field, but eventually, she did get the hang of dribbling the ball and Ray challenged her to a one-on-one. And Stella, as everyone knew, was never one to back down from a challenge.

Ray stole the ball from her over and over again, kicking it into the goal each time, frustrating Stella who was now sweating tennis balls and had aching limbs, but she refused to give up. Finally, she managed to steal the ball back from her rival and kicked it into the goal.

It took her a moment to realize what happened, and when she did, she released a delighted scream.

"I did it!" she exclaimed, hopping up and down in joy.

Ray was laughing along, and raised his hand for a high-five. When her hand connected with his, Stella felt a lurch in her stomach and didn't separate from him immediately. In her joy, she had inadvertently stepped closer to Ray and they were almost chest to chest. Stella looked up at the slightly taller jock (for an athlete, Ray was pretty short, but he made up for it in skill). His baby blues stared back, gently at her. She couldn't look away and she felt her heart starting to race, and she knew it wasn't from playing soccer. Their hands still connected, Ray's fingers curled downwards, entwining with hers.

He was smiling. "Great job, Stella," he said in a soft voice.

It brought shivers throughout Stella's body… shivers that weren't entirely unpleasant.

"Thanks," she replied in an equally soft tone.

For a moment, they just stood there, staring at each other. She was usually pretty good at reading people, but she couldn't guess what he was thinking at that moment.

Sounds and hollering from the skateboarders brought her out of her senses and she tore her gaze away, stepping back. The warmth from their closeness immediately disappeared and Stella found herself craving it, but she held her ground.

"We should head home," she said, looking down at her now dirt-caked converse sneakers.

"Yeah… You kind of stink."

"So do you!"

Ray laughed. "Come on, I'll drive you home."

It took Stella a few minutes to realize, until they reached his car in the parking lot, that Ray hadn't let go of her hand.

* * *

As the blue pick-up truck pulled up to the Yamada residence, Ray didn't know why his heart was pounding so much. He was just going to ask her a question, plain and simple. So, why was he so nervous?

Meanwhile, Stella was getting her things ready and Ray watched her. When she had her backpack and books, she turned to him with a smirk, "See you tomorrow."

She moved to open the door and in panic, Ray blurted it out.

"Stella."

She paused, looking back at him, her warm chocolate brown eyes holding a questioning look. Ray took a moment to take a breath and asked the question that had been bugging him the last few days.

"What are we?" he blurted out. "I mean… you know… are we… friends?"

Stella's eyes widened. "Oh… um… I don't know… we didn't exactly establish anything."

Ray nodded. "Right. 'Cause we've been working too much."

"Exactly."

The car filled with silence for a minute or so. It didn't really help Ray's nerves.

"You hate me though," she suddenly stated, breaking the silence. 

"I don't."

"Since when?"

"I… I don't know! I just don't hate you, okay?! At least, not anymore. If anything, _you_ hate _me_!"

There was a pause, and then a whisper, "I don't."

"What?" Ray looked incredulously at her.

"I don't hate you. Not anymore."

"Oh."

Stella looked at him with a wary eye. "Well, since we established that we don't hate each other anymore, what do you want us to be then?"

His cheeks stained red. "Friends?"

A look of surprise flashed on her face. "Really? Are you sure? I mean, what would Patty and your soccer minions think?"

"I don't really give a damn," he answered, immediately and found that he meant it. He really didn't care what they thought. "Besides, I'm still the king of Mesa High. They have no say in what I want to do or who I become friends with."

Stella smirked. "Glad to know our budding friendship didn't destroy your charm."

"Haha, funny," Ray said, but smiling. "So, how about it, Yamada? Wanna be friends?"

His heart was pounding as she looked like she was thinking really hard. To his relief, she nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow, _buddy_ ," she teased, her eyes twinkling.

Before Ray could say anything else, she was already out of the car and closing the door. She looked back to wave at him as she walked down the pathway to her house. He waved back, feelings of warmth blossoming in his chest.

But, there was still a part of him that wasn't satisfied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment!


	7. The Truce

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own "Lemonade Mouth." If I did, "Lemonade Mouth 2" would have happened, and Rayella would be canon.

The next day, Stella woke up in the best mood she has had in a while. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she was just… giddy. Even her family noticed as Stella sang her heart out in the shower, practically skipped down the stairs, and even hugged her brothers.

Even after her mom dropped her off at school, she couldn't help the smile at her lips. And she was still smiling like an idiot when she saw Mo and Scott waiting for her by her locker. They had promised to quickly help her review for her Trigonometry test that morning.

"For someone with a math test first period, you're pretty happy," Mo commented after Stella greeted the two of them.

Stella shrugged as she opened her locker and got her things ready for the day. "Woke up in a pretty good mood. Not sure why though."

"Well, that's good," Scott said. "We can go over those formulas with you."

Stella grabbed her math notebook and opened it to the page with all the formulas she needed. Mo and Scott then proceeded to go over them with her and testing her. Stella wasn't as bad at Math as she was with Chemistry. With genius brothers who were always building something and making calculations, they sometimes manage to help her with her homework… that is, if they weren't engrossed in some kind of project their little prodigy minds came up with.

Mo and Scott continued to quiz her and it was going rather well, until they heard a frustrated shriek from down the hall. They simply glanced at that direction before turning back to the equations, ignoring it; it was high school, stuff like that always happened. Someone probably finally cracked and was having another nervous breakdown.

"YOU!" a voice shrieked in their direction.

The three looked up to see Patty, looking redder than her hair. She was pointing at Stella with a shaking finger. The half-asian guitarist raised an eyebrow and pointed to herself.

"Me?" she asked, confused and a little intrigued.

"YES, YOU!"

"What did I do?"

Did they find out about the end-of-the-year prank she was going to play on the cheerleaders? She knew she should never have told Charlie that she planned on slipping green hair dye into cheerleaders' shampoo!

But, apparently, that wasn't it.

"You did something to Ray!" Patty screeched.

Oh, so the issue here was Ray. What exactly did Stella do to Ray?

"What did I do to Ray?" she asked, completely confused.

Apparently, her question wasn't a satisfying enough answer as Patty let out a shriek and stomped her foot like a child.

"You'll pay for this, Yamada!" she screamed before turning on her designer shoe heels and stalking off, shoving aside whoever was in her way.

Mo and Scott's eyebrows were practically at their hairlines as they watched Patty go before turning to a still-confused Stella.

"What was that about?" Mo asked.

Stella shrugged and was about to go back to reviewing for her test when another figure came walking up to them, with a much friendlier face… if you could call Ray's smirk friendly, that is.

"Ladies… Gent," he greeted.

"Hey," the three greeted back.

"So, wanna tell us what's got Patty so worked up?" Scott asked, pointing at the still tantrum-ing red head cheerleader, who was almost a dot in their vision now.

The soccer team captain scoffed. "She's mad 'cause I told her to shut up," he said.

Mo's eyebrows raised, she asked, "And how did that piss her off? You say it to her all the time and she usually does shut up."

"I told her to stop insulting Stella," Ray clarified, nonchalantly.

Stella, who had been going through her trigonometry notes, looked up quickly. "Wait… What?"

"What?" Mo echoed, eyes wide.

Scott just laughed, a hand over his mouth.

Ray grinned. "She was calling you names, I wasn't happy about it, so I told her to shut up. She didn't like that." He looked at Stella. "When she asked why, I told her because you were my friend, and I didn't appreciate her calling you a bunch of racist stuff. I mean, I know I insult a lot of people and I find great joy in that, but what she said was below the belt, even for me."

As he spoke, Stella felt her entire face and ears heat up. Ray must have noticed since he laughed.

"Like, right now!" he said, pointing at her face. "You look like a ripe tomato, Yamada!"

Stella quirked her eyebrows. "Really, Beech? Ripe tomato is the best you can do? You're losing your touch."

"Am I, Yamada? Am I really?"

Then, he winked at her, and Stella's blush deepened. Damn him and those sky blue eyes!

Meanwhile, Scott and Mo watched the exchange, Scott in fascination and Mo in confusion.

"I'm sorry, did you say you told Patty that Stella is your friend?" Mo interrupted their little staring contest.

Ray turned to her. "Yeah. Didn't Yamada tell you, Lemon Heads?"

"No, I didn't get the chance," Stella said. "I was planning on telling them at lunch, but since Patty pretty much just opened that can of worms, I guess I might as well tell you guys now. Ray and I decided to become friends-"

"Really?" a fifth voice joined in.

The four looked up to see Olivia, Wen, and Charlie approaching. The red-head pianist had an arm around his blonde-haired girlfriend's shoulder.

"You guys are friends?" Olivia continued, smiling like the little ray of sunshine she was.

Stella nodded and Ray simply tilted his head.

"Whoa, that explains why Patty practically threw that trash can at us," Wen said, thoughtfully.

"She threw a trash can at you?!" Mo screeched in alarm.

"Oh no, she just tried," answered Olivia, still smiling. "She kind of pushed it and, um, it hit Principal Brennigan while he was passing by on his Segway."

At Olivia's explanation, the teens burst into laughter, imagining what happened. Poor Patty… But, she did deserve it.

"So, does this mean you're gonna stop being mean to us?" Wen asked.

"And start calling us by our actual names?" Charlie added.

"And calling our band by our actual name?" Olivia piped in.

Ray held his hands up. "Whoa, whoa, chill, lemon heads. I said I was friends with Yamada here, but do you really want to take away my joy?"

Stella raised an eyebrow at him, frowning. He sighed. "Okay, I'll minimize the mean, I'll occasionally call you by your names, and come on, Lemon Head has a nice ring to it!"

The band flashed each other disbelieving looks, except for Scott who was still chuckling into his hand.

Ray smirked. "What do you say, Lemon Heads? Wanna be acquaintances?"

"So… not friends, like you are with Stella and Scott?" Mo asked, head tilted to the side in curiosity.

"Hmm… We'll get there, Banjaree," he replied, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder. "But, for now, I think I'll stick with Yamada here."

And to everyone's surprise, he wrapped an arm around Stella's shoulders, pulling her to his side and squeezed her shoulders before letting go, leaving her with a funny, but not unpleasant, feeling in her stomach.

"Anyway, now that the nature of our friendship is out in the open, I stopped by to pick up the goods, Yamada."

"Oh! Right!" Stella opened her backpack and sorted through it.

Meanwhile, her friends were still looking at Ray, deciphering if they should trust him.

"So, what you're saying is… Lemonade Mouth and Mudslide Crush have a… truce?" Mo asked, still looking suspicious.

Ray nodded. "A truce. We're still rivals, of course, can't have you lot taking over the music scene, just like that. But for now, we can be… friendly rivals. Nothing wrong with a little friendly competition, am I right?"

They looked at each other, as Stella finally found what she was looking for.

"Here it is!" she said, triumphantly handing the box over at Ray.

His eyes lit up as he took it from her. "Thanks," he said, unable to contain his glee as he stuffed the box into this backpack.

Meanwhile, the rest of the band was still flashing each other questioning looks.

Finally, Olivia spoke, "I have no problem with it. The truce, I mean. It's a start."

Tentatively, she held her hand out to Ray. He looked at the hand then at her face.

Stella held her breath and then released it when Ray took the hand and shook it quickly. The guitarist felt only relief and joy as the rest of the band followed in Olivia's footsteps and shook hands with Ray. He was looking a little embarrassed, especially since the other students were now throwing curious looks in their direction. A few sneakily took some pictures, as proof that yes, Ray Beech, King of Mesa High and feared bully, was making amends with the revolutionary Lemonade Mouth.

"Well, this was touching and life-changing and all, but it's time to grace the rest of Mesa High with yours truly. Scott?" he turned to his friend who nodded.

"See you guys at lunch," he said, leaning down to kiss Mo's cheek.

As Ray finally left, with Scott in tow (they were in the same homeroom), the rest of the band gathered around Stella as they walked down the hallway in the opposite way, asking her how the friendship with Ray happened. She happily explained.

"So, what was that you gave him?" Mo asked.

"Matcha cookies," she answered. "Mom went grocery shopping yesterday and apparently, there was a sale and she remembered that Ray liked them, so she asked me to give him one of the boxes."

"Wait, your mom asked you to give cookies to Ray?!"

"Yeah, she likes him. And Dad too, when he found out Ray wanted to go to med-school. Did you know his mom is a pediatrician? But she has a private practice."

Stella continued to babble on and on about Ray, not noticing her friends' looks and the grins they were exchanging with each other.

* * *

As they walked to Homeroom, Scott turned to Ray, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Friends with Stella, huh?" he said, grinning.

The blonde shrugged. "Yeah, so what?"

Scott's grin widened as he bumped his shoulder against Ray's. "You have a crush on our little asian guitarist, don't you?"

Ray flashed him an annoyed look, but Scott could see his cheeks turning pink. "No, I don't!"

"Uh, yes you do. You haven't been this invested in a girl since Cassandra Brookefield back in the 7th grade."

"Yeah and she dumped me when she had to move to Phoenix and met some older football player."

"Stella is not Cassandra."

"She better not be. She was annoying now that I'm looking back. Cassandra, not Stella. At least Yamada can hold a conversation without saying 'like' every five words. And her laugh isn't pitchy, so it doesn't hurt my ears. I mean, yeah, she's also kinda cute when she's annoyed 'cause her ears get all red, she does that when she's embarrassed too. And, sure, we actually figured out that we like a lot of the same things, and she's fun to be around. But! That does not mean I have a crush on her."

He finished with a nod, proud of himself.

Scott stared at him before nodding. "Yep. You've got it bad for Stella."

The red in Ray's cheeks darkened as he scowled at his best friend before giving his side a push. "Shut up, Pickett."

Scott laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I apologize that this was a little short. I'm kind of going through a breakup right now, and it's kind of killing me and my inspiration, so I'm sorry if I might be gone for a few days, but I swear that I WILL finish this story. I won't let you guys down!


	8. Rain Storms And Varsity Jackets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own "Lemonade Mouth." If I did, "Lemonade Mouth 2" would have happened, and Rayella would be canon.

The strange new friendship between Mudslide Crush's front man and Lemonade Mouth's guitar goddess spread throughout the school like wildfire. Rumors went around that the two bands were uniting to form one single band to compete in that year's Rising Star competition. Others said that Mudslide Crush had blackmailed Lemonade Mouth into getting them as an opening act during their summer tour. Still, others believe it was an April Fools joke, played on them by the higher-ups of the school and somehow had managed to involve the two best high school bands in all of Mesa.

Needless to say, the jocks were confused, the cheerleaders were frustrated, and the social outcasts of the school became braver. If Stella Yamada could get Ray Beech to minimize his bullying (Really! They couldn't believe it, either!), they could do anything!

Stella didn't really care about gossip and Ray was much too confident to be brought down by just a few rumors. They waved at each other in the hallways, hung out at Dante's pizzeria (where Lemonade Mouth and Mudslide Crush's members officially met each other), and talked in the cafeteria. Neither band brought up the events of last year's Rising Star nor where they planning on competing again this year either. Lemonade Mouth had their tour to prepare for, and Mudslide Crush's drummer and bassist were both seniors busy with college applications.

It was a truce that they upheld and took very seriously.

That was why no one questioned Ray and Stella's presence in the bleachers by the soccer field, after school, that one fateful Friday. Stella's next Chemistry test, the last one, before finals next month, was the Monday after next week. They had one week and two more days to get her ready to A-ce the test. And Stella must say that she was doing rather well, thank you very much!

Ray continued to rattle off different substances and Stella managed to identify each as element, compound, or mixture with an explanation. She was getting so good at this, she could do it in her sleep!

"Great job, Stella!" Ray praised, as he closed the textbook he had been getting examples from. "That's… pretty much it. You're gonna A-ce this, Yamada!"

He raised his hand for a high-five and Stella slapped her hand against his, happily. Their fingers curled and entwined with each other, and they have done it so many times that it was no longer a surprise to the guitarist. The funny feeling she got in her stomach, however, still confused her.

"Awesome! Can we go home now?" she said, taking her hand back from his hold and beginning to pack up. "I'd like to take a looong nap. And I heard it's going to rain-"

"Let's play."

She looked up to see him standing up and looking at the field. It was empty, of course, no one wanted to stay any longer at school on a Friday… except them, apparently.

Stella's nose wrinkled. "Ray, you know I'm not good at sports. I barely beat you last time."

He turned to her with a pout, his sky blue eyes widening. "Please, Stella. I'll let you win!"

She chuckled and shook her head. "You're ridiculous if you think that that's going to work on me."

"Fine, I won't let you win." His eyes suddenly twinkled. "What about a bet?"

Stella perked up. Ray knew her well. "What's at stake?"

The blonde jock grinned. "Frozen Yogurt. Whoever gets the most goals wins, and the loser has to buy."

She could practically feel the fire dancing in her eyes at the challenge and ultimate prize. "You're on, Beech."

The two brought their stuff down to the fields and Ray went to go find a stray soccer ball. Apparently, the soccer team made it a habit to always leave one out, just in case any of them wanted some last minute practice after hours.

"Ready, Yamada?"

"Bring it, Beech!"

And the game was on. Ray may be the soccer star of the two, but Stella was a fast learner – how do you think she got so good at guitar? She could practically feel the confusion emanate from Ray every time she managed to steal the ball from him and scored a goal.

But, of course, Ray was still the soccer star of the two, so when Stella plopped herself on the grass, too exhausted to play, he was at least 5 points ahead of her and declared himself the winner. He collapsed on his back beside her, panting.

"You've been… practicing," he managed, trying to catch his breath. "Impressive."

"What can I say?... I learn fast… and I love… a challenge," she managed back in between breaths of her own.

Ray turned his head to her, grinning. "I win…. You owe me… froyo."

But Stella laughed and shook her head. "No way… This is… a time out."

"Not a time out, Yamada… I won."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

"Did not."

"Did to."

"Did not, did not!"

Before Stella could comprehend what was happening, Ray had released a growl and suddenly, he was above her, his hands on either side of her head to hold himself up, her legs between his. She could feel his breath on her face and smell the grass and musk from him; the lurch in her stomach doubled ten times, while the blood rushed to her face and ears, and her heart skipped a beat.

Smirking, Ray brought his face closer to hers. "Did too, did too," he whispered, before bringing his fingers to her side and began to tickle her.

"Ray! Oh my god, Ray, stop! Stop!" Stella managed words in between laughs, as she squirmed underneath Ray.

She was surprised she didn't accidentally hit him where it hurt because he was practically right there and with just the right angle, her knee could make it possible for him to never have children.

"Admit I won and buy me froyo!"

"Noooooo! Hahahaha, stoooop!"

"Buy me froyo!"

"Okay, okay, just stoooop!"

And just like that, Ray stopped, his face still smirking. Stella glared at him and pushed him off of her.

"That wasn't funny, Beech!" she screamed, cheeks aflame.

"I wouldn't have to do that if you just admitted that I won," he countered, standing up and offering a hand to her.

She took it, still glaring at him. "Fine, but because you made me all gross and sweaty, I'm gonna stop by the bathroom first."

"Fine. But don't run off on me, Yamada. You're getting me Froyo no matter what."

She waved a hand, as they went to the bench to pick up their stuff. "Yeah, yeah. I'll meet you at your car."

* * *

She didn't run off on him, as Ray half-expected her to do. Nope, after freshening himself up as well, Ray waited for her by his truck, and she arrived a few minutes later, less sweaty, and no grass stuck to her hair and wrinkled clothes.

Ray had never seen her look more beautiful. And he could easily admit that to himself, now. Just not to Stella.

They drove to the frozen yogurt place near Dante's; they had a Friday special for students.

As her habit, Stella proceeded to sample all the froyo flavors with the little paper cup provided before making her choice: chocolate and mint. Ray picked his usual regular yogurt. Now, toppings was where the fate of Stella's wallet lay. They were allowed two free toppings, as the Friday special dictated, and the rest was an additional 50 cents. The two proceeded to pile sprinkles, sauces, and various candies into their froyos. After paying, quite reluctantly on Stella's part, they picked a table at a corner and in between bites of their frozen cup of diabetes, talked about whatever came to mind.

When they first started their tutoring sessions, they rarely talked except to discuss Chemistry. And, of course, there were the arguments and fighting that, looking back now, didn't really make a lot of sense to Ray. He realized that half the time, he wasn't even sure what they were fighting about or why they were fighting. But, when they started slipping into their weird truce, conversation flowed naturally between them.

They both liked the same punk and classic rock bands and hated a certain Canadian singer. Their guilty pleasures were British TV and 90's sitcoms. They both played guitar. And both had parents who were mega-busy and important people who sometimes forgot their older child existed.

And when they declared their odd friendship, they became comfortable enough to talk about anything they wanted.

And Stella loved to talk on and on about subjects that interested her; Ray liked listening to her. She was interesting, and was always lively and passionate, and she talked with gestures. There was a time when they were having an animated conversation about a video she found online that when she spread her arms wide in excitement, she accidentally hit a passing freshman in the face. It was the funniest thing Ray had ever seen!

So that was why the conversation didn't stop even after the two teens finished their froyos and started to leave the froyo place. They were both so high on sugar and amusement that they almost didn't notice the droplets of water coming from the sky.

"Oh, shit," Ray cursed, staring at the dark clouds and pouring rain.

"You got that right," Stella added. "How are we supposed to get to your car?"

Ray looked over at her. She had on a purple long-sleeved shirt and dark jean capris. Barely enough to keep her warm from the howling wind pelting water everywhere.

He looked down at his varsity jacket. He wasn't a huge guy, but the jacket was big enough. So, he took it off and placed it over the two of them. Stella looked up at him in surprise.

"If we run, we might not get too wet," he said.

Nodding, she took the other side of the jacket to hold it up over their heads.

"Ready? Go!"

They sprinted to Ray's truck, their sneakers splashing against the pavement, but it was no use. By the time they reached his truck, they were soaked to the bone.

Ray held the jacket over Stella's head as she took the keys from his pocket and unlocked the door, so she could get in first, before running to the driver's side. Once the two were safely inside, they took a moment to try and dry themselves off.

"I know they said rain, but they didn't say it was going to be a storm!" Stella whined, squeezing water out of her hair. "Is it even safe for you to drive right now?"

Ray peered outside, worriedly. Water pelted against the windshield, blurring the view outside. He wasn't really up for driving when he could barely see. "We might have to wait it out," he said. "Just until it lets down a little so I can see, then I'll bring you home."

"Fine with me. Don't want you driving out in this weather."

"Awww, you do care, Yamada."

"Yes, because I don't want to die, Beech," she teased, before taking out her phone. "I'm gonna call home so Mom doesn't think I'm dead."

While Stella called her mother to let her know what happened, Ray started the car so they could at least have some heat. He was freezing! When Stella hung up, she leaned back on the car seat with a sigh, rubbing her arms. He could see the goosebumps slowly forming on her skin, and his damn heater was taking too long to heat up the car.

Before Ray realized what he was doing, he picked up his varsity jacket again from where he threw it between them earlier and handed it to her.

"Here, wear this. It's a little damp, but it might help warm you up."

Surprised but flashing him a grateful smile, Stella took the jacket and put it on, zipping it up.

Ray's breath hitched and his stomach lurched. He swallowed the sudden lump that formed in his throat. The jacket was giant on her and she was practically drowning in the blue and white fabric. But it looked so right… so perfect. When she moved closer to the dashboard to turn on the stereo, he caught a glimpse of his number and last name stitched on the back.

And at that moment, Ray knew he was officially a goner. Actually, he had been for a while, he just didn't want to admit it. Not until now, anyway.

* * *

When the rain finally lightened up and Ray could at least see the road in front of him, he drove her home.

Stella was still soaked to the bone, but at least her hair was starting to dry, and Ray's jacket did keep her warm. She had to admit, it was very cozy and smelled quite nice; she'd love to have a jacket like this at some point, and even though it was huge on her, she loved the feel of it. Like she was being hugged.

 _Oh my god, when did I turn so sappy?_ she thought to herself, as Ray turned into her street.

When the car stopped in front of her house, she couldn't help feeling a little sad. She had to return the jacket now. She tried to keep the pout off of her face as she unzipped the blue and white material and slipped it off her shoulders.

"Thanks for letting me use your jacket," she said to Ray, as she folded it neatly and placed it in between them. "And thanks for the ride."

She then gathered her things, thinking only of a nice hot shower, dry clothes, and a warm bed. She shot him one last smile before placing her hand on the door to open it.

"Stella."

At Ray's soft call, she turned to him. He wasn't looking at her. He was staring blankly at the steering wheel, and Stella wondered what he was thinking about. He only really blanked out when something was bothering him, and in the last few months, she had learned that Ray was rarely bothered about anything. If he did, he never really told her, and although Stella was naturally curious about these things, she was never one to pry.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, genuinely worried.

He finally turned his head to look at her, and Stella was surprised to see him looking so lost, like he was about to cry. What was happening to Ray?!

But, there was something else there, something behind those sad blue eyes. Stella recognized it as longing, and she felt the familiar lurch in her stomach. What was Ray longing for?

"Stella," he said again.

He paused, appearing to be thinking about something, hesitating. Stella could see his knuckles turning white from clutching the steering wheel so tightly.

"Are… are you okay?" she asked, putting her stuff back down on the floor of the car.

She couldn't resist moving a little closer and placing a comforting hand on his arm. That one gesture did it. Ray removed his hands from the steering wheel to place them on either side of her face.

Stella's eyes widened, as the heat rushed to her cheeks and her heart skipped a beat. He was so close, and she could see the crystal blue of his eyes; she felt like she was drowning in them.

"Stella," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "For what?"

Ray swallowed and took a deep breath, not taking his eyes away from hers. "For what I'm about to do."

"What are you-"

But Stella never finished her sentence as Ray leaned in and pressed his lips against hers in a gentle kiss.

Time stopped. The lurch in her stomach, which Stella now realized was butterflies, tripled a thousand times. Her heart raced like she just ran around the world and hadn't stopped. And she felt warmth from the top of her damp head to the tips of her wet-sneakered toes. Her head went blank, completely and utterly blank except for the fireworks that danced in her mind.

When Ray finally pulled away, she still felt warm, but her world was dark, quite literally as she realized that she must have closed her eyes during the kiss and not noticed. She opened them to see Ray, only a breath away from her face, his cheeks flushed, blue eyes connected to her brown ones.

"Your eyes have some gold in them, did you know?" he stated, softly.

Stella's blush deepened. Her head was spinning with a million questions and she didn't know which one to find an answer for first. So, she picked the most obvious one.

"Why did you kiss me?" she asked, in an equally soft voice.

Ray was quiet for a moment, still not letting go of her face, and Stella didn't pull away. She didn't want to pull away, and she didn't know why.

"I don't want to be friends with you," Ray finally said.

Her heart sank. Then what was that kiss for?!

"I want to be more," he continued.

She almost sighed in relief. But, she still didn't know what this feeling was… like her heart was being restored… but, at the same time it was like someone used lead to fix it.

"Stella, I like you. I really, really like you."

She suddenly couldn't breathe.

"These last few months… getting to know you… the real you… I… I have never felt this way about anyone… no one… I… I know this is confusing, but…"

At those words, Stella finally gathered enough strength and will to pull herself away from his hold. Her heart was beating way too fast that she felt like it was going to jump out of her chest, and her breathing was much too shallow. She felt like she was drowning.

"Stella…" Ray kept calling out to her, but she couldn't look at him. "Stella… I just want to know if… you feel the same way."

Feel the same way? What was she supposed to feel?!

"I… I don't know…" she finally answered.

"Stella, I-"

"Ray, I don't know!" she practically screamed, turning to face him with a sharp look. She saw the hurt in his eyes, and her heart softened. "Ray, I… I really don't know."

She bit her lip before hurriedly gathering her things. "I'm sorry," she said, not looking at him and before she could change her mind, got out of the car and ran down the stone path to her front door.

It was drizzling still, but she didn't care, and she had to resist the temptation to look back. As she reached her front door,  she turned. The blue truck was still there, and Ray was still watching her through the window, helplessly. The confused girl hurriedly opened her door and slammed it shut, before collapsing against it. After a few minutes, she wasn't sure exactly how long, she heard the sound of his truck leaving. And then... silence.

Finally, she allowed the sob that she had been holding back to fall out of her lips, and the tears joined in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment!


	9. Heartbreaker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own "Lemonade Mouth." If I did, "Lemonade Mouth 2" would have happened, and Rayella would be canon.

Scott couldn't believe that this was how he was going to spend his Sunday afternoon. He had been at the park with Mo, but was too distracted with worry for his best friend, who was currently at home miserable. Thus, he couldn't pay as much attention as he wanted on his girlfriend, who was actually quite annoyed at first, until Scott finally told her what Ray had relayed to him. To his surprise, Mo understood because apparently, Stella had spent all of Friday night ranting about the same thing to Mo and Olivia via video chat.

They both knew the main details: Ray confessed, there was a kiss involved, and Stella ran off in shock.

So when he said that he wanted to go check on Ray, Mo offered to go with him. He didn't know what he did to deserve such an understanding girl like Mo (because the heavens knew he didn't deserve her after cheating on her!)

That was why now, instead of at the park splitting chicken sandwiches and sharing cans of Mel's lemonade, they were outside the Beech household, waiting to be let in.

Mo was looking at the large house with wide, curious eyes and whistled. "Wow," she said. "Ray is loaded."

Scott chuckled. "Yeah, well, with a well-known doctor for a mom and a successful businessman for a dad, you would be. I don't think they're home today though."

The door finally opened and a middle-aged Hispanic woman greeted them.

"Hi Maria," Scott said, entering with Mo in tow. "We're here to see Ray. Is he home?"

Maria nodded. "Yes, but he might still be asleep. He hasn't come down yet."

Mo's brows furrowed. "But it's noon."

The woman shrugged. "Sometimes, he sleeps until 3pm. But, go on up ahead, children. Are you hungry? I can bring up some food. Maybe drinks, if you're thirsty?"

Scott shook his head. "We're fine Maria. We'll just go see Ray."

"Si, si, alright. But, if you and your lady friend need anything, I'll be in the kitchen."

"We will, thank you."

When the woman left for the kitchen, Scott led Mo through the hallways and up a staircase.

"They have a housekeeper?" Mo whispered to Scott.

"Slash nanny," he responded, mounting up the stairs.

"Ray has a nanny?" Mo giggled.

"Well, she was his nanny when he was little. But, now she's the nanny for his sister."

"Oh… That makes sense."

She was looking around, spotting a few baby pictures of Ray and pointing them out to Scott with a giggle. She was so adorable.

At the top of the stairs, sat a blonde-haired little girl, a stuffed rabbit clutched in one hand as she colored in a book with the other. She looked up as they approached and her powder blue eyes lit up.

"Scotty!"

She leaped into his arms and Scott caught her with ease and walked up the rest of the stairs. "Hey, Penny." He turned to Mo, who was smiling in amusement. "Mo, this is Penny-"

"Penelope Moira Beech," the little girl interrupted, sticking her hand out to Mo from Scott's arms. "I'm eight years old. What about you?"

Mo took the hand and shook it. "Mohini Banjaree, sixteen years old."

Penny turned back to Scott. "Is she your girlfriend?" she asked, head tilted to the side, cutely.

"Yeah, she is."

She looked back at Mo, eyeing her up and down before leaning in to Scott's ear. "She's pretty," she whispered.

The teenage boy laughed. "I know," he whispered back.

Meanwhile, said girlfriend could only smile in amusement as Scott placed the little girl back down and patted her head.

"Are you here to see Ray?" she asked, looking down the hall, where Ray's bedroom was.

"Yeah, Maria said he's still asleep."

"I think he's sad."

The two teens looked down at her, as she absent-mindedly played with her hair.

"Why do you think that?" Mo asked, curious.

Penny pursed her lips. "I don't hear his music, and he always plays for an hour every day, but he hasn't. He only does that when he's sad. And he promised to play tea party with me on Friday, but he didn't, and he pinky-swore and broke it. So, that means he's sad."

Scott was impressed. He knew that the little girl was smart and observant for her age, but wow, he never realized that she was _this_ observant.

"Wow," Mo whispered.

"Yeah," Scott added. "Penny, if he's sad, then we're going to go see what's wrong and hope we can fix it. Okay?"

The little girl nodded and went back to her spot by the stairs earlier to continue coloring.

Meanwhile, the two teens proceeded down the hall to Ray's room. Scott found the door with stickers of Mudslide Crush's logo, a STOP sign, and purple bunny (Penny's doing), and tried the knob. It was unlocked, so he nodded at Mo before opening the door.

Despite what one may think of Ray, he was actually very neat and a bit OCD when it came to his room. There was a place for everything, and everything was in its place. His desk was clean save for a laptop and a few stacked textbooks and notebooks. His CD rack was organized alphabetically, as were his books (mostly graphic novels and Sci-fi). In a corner was a guitar, a keyboard, and a music stand with a folder filled with music sheets: Ray's music-writing corner.

Beside Scott, Mo placed a hand over her mouth to stop her giggles from coming out.

Right in the middle of the room, by the furthest wall filled with posters of various rock bands and rock icons, was Ray's bed. And on Ray's bed was Ray, sprawled on his stomach, blonde hair sticking out everywhere, and his mouth open.

Scott slowly approached, placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, and gently shook him awake.

It took a while. Ray kept slapping his hand away, refusing to open his eyes, but Scott knew that he was awake.

"Come on, man," he said, shaking the blonde's shoulder again. "Talk to me. To us. Mo is here, she can help with your Stella problem."

At the mention of the half-asian guitarist's name, Ray's eyes slowly opened, and Scott saw that they were bloodshot, the circles under them more prominent. Mudslide Crush's front man stared at the ceiling for a few moments, blinking, as if trying to decipher what was happening. Finally, he sat up and stretched. Then, he turned to Scott and frowned.

"She doesn't like me back," he simply stated.

Scott flashed him a sympathetic look before turning to Mo, silently asking for help. The bass princess hesitated before taking a step towards the two teen boys.

"Hey, Ray," she greeted.

The blonde simply tilted his head.

"Scott didn't really tell me the whole story-"

"That's because I didn't tell him," Ray interrupted, sounding irritated.

"Well, we can't help you if we don't know. Well, I kind of know Stella's side-"

"You do?!"

Ray was definitely awake now as he looked the Indian girl, who was nervously shuffling on her feet.

"Tell me," he said to her.

"Well… pretty much what you told Scott. You told her you liked her, kissed her, and she ran off."

"I want to know why she ran."

But Mo shook her head. "She told me in confidence, so I can't tell you. All I can say though is that she's just really confused right now. She told you that. Just give her some time."

With a groan of frustration, Ray ran his hands through his hair, ruffling it even more. "She's not answering my calls and she's not responding to my texts," he said, sounding lost.

Scott had never seen him like this. "Dude, I have never seen you act this way with a girl before," he stated.

"That's because Stella isn't just any girl," Ray snapped, turning to Scott again with a frown. "She's loud, obnoxious, stubborn, and is always angry when she doesn't get her way. She's a gambler, even if she knows she won't win, and she's violent when she's upset. And she irritates the hell out of me!"

Confused, Scott looked over to Mo, who looked equally puzzled. If Ray was trying to compliment Stella, that wasn't what they expected.

"She's the first girl to treat me like Ray," the blonde continued, in a soft voice. "Not like Ray Beech, the King of Mesa High or soccer star or front man of the Crush. To her, I'm none of that. I'm the Ray who likes matcha, who eats meat lovers' pizza like a pig, who's a nerd for Chemistry, who wants to be a doctor. To Stella… I'm just Ray."

At the end of his speech, the blonde proceeded to bend over, placing his head in his hands in frustration.

Meanwhile, the couple in the room continued to stare at him, mouths open in shock at Ray's confession. Squaring her shoulders, Mo walked up to the bed and sat at the edge of it, in front of the blonde. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and he stiffened.

"Why don't you tell us the entire story?" she asked, gently. "From the beginning. How did your feelings for Stella start? Maybe… we can figure something out."

Ray raised his head to look at her, still frowning. "It was that damn matcha."

* * *

That Monday, Stella dragged herself to school. She had contemplated pretending to be sick, but she knew her dad would see right through it. Besides, she had her very important Chem test next week and needed all the review she could get from class.

While at her locker, contemplating once again if she should just go home, Olivia arrived. To say that the blonde girl was surprised at Stella's state was an understatement. She was shocked, her eyes wide and jaw dropping.

"Are… are you okay?" she asked, worriedly.

Stella looked back at her with tired eyes. She barely slept that weekend, so she knew that Olivia could see the dark circles under her eyes and the lack of make-up. Stella wore at least a little eyeliner and lip balm for school, and she was lacking both at the moment.

She shrugged, stuffing her notebooks into her backpack.

"Stella, you're worrying me," Olivia said.

The guitarist sighed and turned to answer the blonde, when her eye caught the very person she wanted to avoid.

Ray was walking down the hall with his soccer team. They were rowdy and seemed to be trying to talk to him, but the team captain didn't seem to be in the mood, his mouth in a perpetual frown and his eyes glaring at everything and everyone. That was, until he caught side of Stella, watching him. His gaze softened and he began to head towards her.

Quick as lightning, Stella shut her locker and grabbed a surprised Olivia's arm and dragged her the opposite direction.

"Stell, homeroom is the other way," Olivia protested, struggling to maintain her grip on her books.

"We'll take the long route," Stella answered, her heart pumping against her chest painfully. "I saw Ray just now and… I don't really want to talk to him."

"Ohhh."

And with that explanation, Olivia remained quiet as she allowed Stella to drag her around school.

And this was how most of her morning went… Dragging herself to class and running away from Ray.

She spent all weekend trying to wrap her mind around his confession when he dropped her off at home on Friday. She didn't get it! Ray had never shown signs of liking her! Or maybe he did and she didn't realize that they were signs… And that kiss… It definitely wasn't her first, but it was the only one that gave her butterflies in her belly and made her see and feel fireworks. But, Stella was still so confused about her feelings. So, she did what she always did when things didn't make sense to her… she ran.

And up until now, she was still running.

Chemistry class was right before lunch. When the bell rang, she urged Olivia to go on ahead without her, as she needed to talk to Dr. Singh.

"Hi, Stella. Great job on last week's homework! The tutoring is really paying off!" the teacher said, kindly to her with a smile.

Stella tried to smile back, but failed. "Yeah, it's helped a lot. That's… actually what I want to talk to you about, Dr. S, if you have a minute?"

* * *

The cafeteria was loud with students chattering and trays clanking against tables. Ray was irritated by all of it. Patty's constant jabbering next to him also made him wish for a quick and painless death (and why he kept allowing her to hang around him was a mystery). His teammates were chatting quietly to themselves, noticing their captain's sullen mood.

How could he not be in a sullen mood? Stella ran away from him that morning… ran like a terrified rabbit. Did she really hate him that much?

As Ray brooded at the thought of the only girl who could make his heart beat faster than normal, a throat cleared behind him and then whispered, "Hey."

The jock turned around quickly. There was the object of his thoughts, standing nervously in front of him, staring at the floor, her eyes not meeting his.

"Hey," Ray greeted back as he stood up to stand closer to her.

She took a step back and Ray felt a sting in his chest.

"Stella, we need to talk-"

"Here." She quickly thrusted a piece of paper at him.

Brows furrowed in confusion, Ray took it. "What is this?"

"It's… your service hours sheet. Dr. Singh signed it."

He scanned the paper and she was right, there was his student info, his service info, and the Chemistry teacher's signature. He looked back at her, still confused.

"But I didn't finish my hours," he protested, trying to give it back to her. "I have at least ten hours left and there's still finals-."

"I told Dr. S that you completed it all, so you don't have to tutor me anymore."

She finally looked up at him and tried to smile, but it ended up as a grimace instead.

It felt like the world was collapsing around him, and he could only feel the stinging in his chest as he realized what she was saying.

"You're… getting rid of me?!" he hissed at her, eyes flashing with hurt and betrayal.

He saw Stella falter, but in typical-Stella way, she rolled her shoulders back and stood her ground. "I don't need your tutoring anymore. I can handle the next test and finals just fine."

Before he realized what he was doing, Ray grabbed her arm and not-so-gently began to pull her towards the cafeteria doors.

"Ray, let go!"

He ignored her as they passed startled students who stared at the two stubborn friendly rivals. They still fought now and then, but it had been ages since they saw legitimate anger in the blonde King of Mesa and the equally legitimate look of irritation on the Asian revolutionary. They wondered if it was the end of the strange friendship.

Once they were outside and out of everyone else's earshot, Stella yanked her arm back from him.

"What the hell, Beech?!" she screamed at him.

Ray rounded on her, red-faced and ready to explode. His head was spinning and he just couldn't understand why she had done this… why was she pushing him away? Did he disgust her that much that she couldn't even reject him properly?

But, he couldn't get the words out. All he managed was to wave the service hours sheet in her face and ask, "Why?"

Stella bit her lip before answering, "I told you, I don't need your tutoring-."

"Cut the bull, Stella, I'm not an idiot," Ray seethed, his hands tightening on the paper, crumpling it slightly. But he didn't care. "This is about what happened on Friday!"

The teenage girl turned red at the mention of Friday's incident, but Ray was too worked up to appreciate that now.

"All you have to do is sit down and have a conversation with me," he continued, trying to keep his voice steady and at a normal volume. "You don't have to do _this_ just to get away from me. What is it, huh? You don't believe me? You don't believe that I actually like you?"

"Of course I don't believe it!" Stella seethed back, also angry. "Ray, for all I know, that was a trick! A trick to play on poor little Stella to get back at Lemonade Mouth-"

"You think this is an act of revenge?!" Ray was really pissed off now, and very insulted. "You actually think I'd waste so much time just for some petty revenge? I thought you knew me better than that! I don't even care about your stupid band anymore! I only care about you! Stella, I like you!"

"No, you don't! If this isn't a trick, then you're confused-"

"Confused?!"

"Yes! All that time we spent together, with you tutoring me and us becoming friends. You're caught up in the moment. You don't really like me! You just think you do!"

Ray took a step closer to her. "I think I know my own feelings, Yamada," he said, coldly.

She didn't move away, only stared back at him with angry eyes that slowly softened into sadness. Ray wanted to hold her close and get rid of that sadness; it was unbecoming on her.

"No, you don't," she insisted in a weak voice, and he knew that she was on the verge of crying. "You can't like me. You and I… we're supposed to hate each other."

"And what? You want to go back to that? All the fighting and the screaming and the ruining of each other's lives? Is that you want?" He grasped her arms, gently. "Because I don't. I don't want to go back to that. Stella, please, don't do this."

Ray was practically pleading with her now. But, Stella silently looked away as she stepped away from his hold and refused to answer. His chest was tight, as if someone was squeezing his heart, and he felt like he couldn't breathe, and the stinging in his eyes burned.

 _So, this is what heartbreak feels like,_ Ray thought as he took a step back from her.

"You know what, Yamada?" he said. "Fine. It doesn't matter. From now on, let's just pretend like we don't even know each other."

Her head raised to look at him, confused and a hint of fear in her eyes. But, Ray flashed her a smirk… his unfriendly smirk… the one he reserved for those he didn't particularly like. He was back to the Ray Beech from a year ago.

He raised the now crumpled service hours sheet. "Thanks for the hours," he said, sarcastically. "Try not to fail next week's test, will you?"

Without another word, he walked past her, trying to ignore the look of hurt and helplessness on her face. It tugged at his heart, but he refused to walk back and take her in his arms.

Why force himself on someone who didn't want him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know it's not very happy, but love and happiness take a little suffering, people! Don't worry, things will be okay with them... eventually.


	10. Life Goes On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry, it's been a while since I updated! I've been busy with work, as well as trying to keep my mind off my breakup. I can say that I'm feeling much better now, and I'm slowly picking myself back up. Thank you to everyone still waiting on this story!
> 
> So, before I move on to the chapter, I noticed that a lot of you said in your reviews that you never thought about Ray and Stella being together before, until you read this story, and that really warms my heart! Truly! To be honest, I wasn't too sure about the pairing either, but there's just so many great ones on her, particularly those of Ella Inspired (I highly recommend her Rayella fics, they are the cutest!). I also saw an interview with Chris Brochu (Ray) and Hayley Kiyoko (Stella) where they both talked about how the two of them wanted Rayella to happen in Lemonade Mouth 2. Since Lemonade Mouth never happened, we never got to see them act it out, and it would have been really interesting to see how they portrayed the two's relationship! Ahhh, well, that's why we have fanfiction. The good news is, the two are still best friends to this day and their friendship is #Goals. 
> 
> With that, on to the chapter!

To say that Mo and Olivia were worried about Stella was an understatement. They were heavily concerned and helpless!

The band was currently in their private practice room, discussing new songs. The two female members of Lemonade Mouth could only watch as Stella stared blankly at the floor, not even paying attention to Wen and Scott talking about their idea of a rap solo for Wen. It was a great idea and a new one that Lemonade Mouth hadn't tried yet, and Stella normally would have jumped at the chance to start composing. But Stella… wasn't Stella at the moment.

"What do you think, Stell?" Wen asked their unofficial leader.

Stella blinked and shook her head. "Great… Just… Great."

The red-head stared at the rest of the band, with an inquiring look. Scott could only sadly sigh, along with Mo and Olivia, while Charlie shrugged, not really sure what was going on.

Stella must have noticed their looks, since she looked up with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, guys. I'm… a little distracted… worried about my test next week… You know, since Ray is not…"

She couldn't go on and the band avoided saying anything else about it. The girls and Scott had filled in the other two members about what happened during lunch. Plus, they had witnessed the incident when Stella pretty much told Ray that he didn't have to tutor her anymore and the blonde had turned red in anger. Suffice to say, they weren't surprised when Stella didn't come back to lunch after her private talk with Ray. Olivia found her in a quiet nook in the library, trying to study, but was too busy wiping the silent tears away from her eyes.

Mo jumped right in. "We can help you study!" she said. "Why don't we skip practice for the day?"

But Stella shook her head and stood up. "No, let's keep going." She grabbed her guitar and fumbled with her guitar pick before looking up to the rest of the band. "Let's start with _She's So Gone_. Mo?"

Silently, the band followed her lead, not wanting to upset her further. They also decided not to comment on the few times she strummed the wrong chords or wasn't on beat.

* * *

By the next day, the entire school knew about Ray and Stella. Rumors went around, but none came close to the true story, as Lemonade Mouth and Mudslide Crush were both tight-lipped about the situation. Needless to say, the student body knew that the two were now avoiding each other like the plague, and they wondered how long it would take until the verbal fights returned.

Meanwhile, that afternoon, Mo and Olivia insisted on canceling practice to help Stella with Chemistry, and stayed in the band's practice room. Wen and Charlie went off somewhere else to work on the rap for Wen's solo, while Scott had soccer practice.

Olivia and Mo were good tutors and they tried to incorporate much of Ray's teaching methods. But, Stella was still having a hard time remembering concepts… concepts she could remember in her sleep only a few days ago with Ray.

By the time the guys came back, Stella was about to collapse from exhaustion, her head aching. Wen's step-mom, Sydney, was picking him and Olivia up, so they offered her a ride home, while Charlie was picked up by his brother (he had transferred to a local university in the area).

Meanwhile, since he now had a little of Mr. Banjaree's trust and approval, Scott drove Mo home. On the way, the Indian bassist couldn't help but talk about her friend's plight.

"She's still having a hard time," Mo said to Scott. "With Chem… and Ray. She's not saying it, but I know she is."

From the driver's side, Scott nodded. "I know. But, what can we do?"

"Well, I told her I would tutor her all week if I have to. But, I don't know if I'm as effective as Ray. From what Stella told me, Ray has all these tricks of teaching her that really helped, and I don't know if I'm doing a good enough job."

Scott pulled up to the Banjaree household and killed the engine before turning to Mo. "You want me to talk to Ray? Maybe I can convince him to help out?"

Mo's brows furrowed. "How? He's not even talking to her anymore! They bumped into each other in the hall today, and he pretended like she wasn't there!"

She remembered Stella's helpless look when Ray ignored her. The bassist knew that Stella would take Ray's anger and taunting any day, but him ignoring her? It killed her.

Scott shrugged. "I don't know, but I'll figure it out." He reached over to take Mo in his arms and kiss her hair. "I'll talk to Ray. Even though he's mad at her, I have never seen him so miserable because of a girl. I know I said before that he's not very sentimental. But, maybe… just maybe… Stella changed that." He flashed her a smile. "Let's hope for the best, okay?"

Mo smiled back at him and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Scott. You're amazing."

The guitarist grinned. "Yeah, I try."

* * *

Ray lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling as he twirled a soccer ball in his hands. He had homework, but he didn't have the motivation to do it. After what happened between him and Stella yesterday, he found that he barely had any energy to go about his daily tasks. Coach had already yelled at him at practice that afternoon for being so distracted, tripping over his own feet several times and missing the goal. It was a nightmare.

He let out a frustrated groan.

"You're still sad."

The blonde looked up to see his little sister at the door, clutching her stuffed bunny. He didn't even hear the door open!

"Why would you think that?" he asked, still playing with the soccer ball.

"You're not playing any music," she simply stated, as if it was obvious. "Do you want to play tea party with me? You promised last time but you broke it."

Ray was hit with guilt; he was so caught up in his own misery that he broke a promise to his little sister. Maybe it would get his mind off of the spitfire Lemonade Mouth guitarist.

The next thing he knew, he was sitting in an uncomfortable tiny chair, a feather boa around his neck, and holding a tiny purple plastic teacup. On his right was a brown teddy bear wearing a top hat and on his left, a Barbie doll dressed like a scientist. Across from him, wearing a plastic tiara and fairy wings, Penny was pouring imaginary tea into all the teacups and serving plastic donuts.

"You know, Mr. Butterscotch is a Doctor," she said, pouring the "tea" into his teacup. "You can tell him what's wrong and what's hurting."

"Nothing's wrong and I'm not hurting!" he snapped at her.

Used to his outbursts, Penny just nodded and put the plastic teapot down. "That's what you said when you sprained your ankle last year, but it hurt and mom got mad at you for keeping it from her."

Ray pouted as he brought the teacup to his lips, pretending to drink.

"If you don't tell us what is wrong, then we won't know how to fix it," his little sister continued, pouring more imaginary tea into all the cups.

His sister was way too smart for her own good. And she was probably watching too much telenovelas with Maria again.

Before Ray could answer, the door to Penny's playroom opened, revealing the brunette backup guitarist of Lemonade Mouth.

"Scotty!" Penny piped, happily. "You're right on time for tea! Want to join us?"

Scott laughed and approached the pink table. "I'd love to."

Since there were no more chairs, Penny moved Mr. Butterscotch the bear closer to her brother, so Scott could settle down on the floor next to her. Without a word, she placed a plastic tiara on the guitarist's hair.

Ray burst into laughter until Penny flashed him a glare, so he clamped his mouth shut. He didn't want to get his sister angry. It would not be pretty waking up to glitter bombs.

For a while, the tea party went on. Penny made small talk with her toys and the two teens played along, pretending to drink the tea and eat the donuts. Finally, after at least a half hour of this, Penny turned to Ray again.

"Are you going to tell us what hurts now?" she asked.

Ray stayed silent, staring at the pink table.

Scott answered for him. "I think it's with his heart."

"Dude!"

"What's wrong with his heart?"

"A girl broke it."

"Scott!"

Without another word, Ray lunged at his best friend, knocking Mr. Butterscotch to the floor. The two struggled as Ray tried to cover Scott's mouth with his hand in an attempt to shut him up. Meanwhile, Scott continued to talk in a hurried tone while dodging Ray's hand and trying to push him off.

Penny calmly watched; she was used to it after all. When Scott managed to push Ray off him and crawl to the spot behind the eight-year old, seeking her protection, she simply nodded in understanding.

"So why don't you prove your feelings to her?" she stated, as if it was obvious to Ray.

Meanwhile, still lying on the floor, Ray looked up at the ceiling. _How did they manage to paint the entire thing pink?_ he thought to himself.

"It's not easy if she won't even talk to me," he said, in response to Penny's question.

"You won't talk to her either," Scott pointed out.

The blonde glared at him before sighing.

"I said some things to her," he whispered. "I can't take them back."

"Why not?" Penny asked.

"I… I just can't, okay?"

Scott peeked from behind his sister's chair. "Well, she's kinda lost without you, man. Mo and Liv are trying their best to prep her for the Chem test next week, but it's not working so far. You're the only one who's had any luck with her."

"You don't think I know that? I know her! With everything that's happened, it's going to bother her and it's all she's going to think about."

"So, if you know, why don't you do something about it?"

"She fired me! She said she doesn't need my help anymore!"

"That doesn't mean you still can't help her," Penny said. "Remember what mom said? Sometimes, people think they don't need help because they don't know what's wrong or because they're afraid. Maybe she doesn't know what is wrong or she is afraid."

Finally brave enough to no longer need the eight-year old girl's protection, Scott scooted over closer to Ray, who was still sprawled on the floor.

"You know your sister's right," he said. "And like you said, you know Stella. She probably realized that she still needed you, but she's too afraid to ask."

"Or too stubborn," the blonde muttered, frowning.

Scott nodded. "That too. I mean, come on, man. Can you really stand the thought of Stella failing and missing our tour? You know how excited she's been. And you gave her hope that she would be a part of it. Are you going to abandon her now?"

With that last statement, Ray knew his hardened heart was softening. Of course, his best friend knew exactly how to get into his skin.

After the evolution of their relationship in the last few months, the soccer captain could not just abandon the spitfire revolutionary. Even if she did insist that she didn't need him, her mind was probably a muddled mess right now. Who could concentrate with that hanging above their head?

So, even if she broke his heart and stomped all over his feelings, he wouldn't allow her to fail. Besides, he couldn't let those last few months of work go into waste, now could he? He was not only the most handsome and most athletic King of Mesa, he was also one of the smartest! He had a reputation to uphold!

At least… that was what he told himself.

"I don't know how I'll do it, because knowing her, she's not going to accept any help from me. But… I'll figure something out."

"Thanks, man." Scott patted his shoulder. "But I hope you figure it out soon. She literally has only a few days left."

At this point, Penny decided that her tea party was over. Wishing the two teens good luck, she kicked them out of her room. So, they headed to Ray's room to contemplate, and maybe do a little homework themselves.

As Scott worked on his math, Ray tried to concentrate on his history essay. He couldn't get his mind off of Stella and how to help her. Even after all that happened, he was still a softie for her. Only her. And he wished he could just stop liking her so much. He tried, oh the Lord knew that he tried so hard the last few months to not like her. To continue hating her, like he did all of last year. But… he couldn't.

As Ray mused, Scott's humming broke through his thoughts. He wrinkled his nose at him.

"Why are you humming 'Pop Goes the Weasel'?" he asked.

Scott shrugged. "It's how Miss Grant taught us the quadratic formula, so we wouldn't forget."

They had different Math teachers, so Ray didn't know about that, but it spiked his curiosity.

"Can you... sing it?"

Surprised, Scott nodded and proceeded to sing the formula. It was surprisingly catchy and quite easy to remember.

Ray's eyes flashed to his keyboard and open song book. His eyes widened, as an idea struck him like lightning.

He knew how he could help Stella and he needed to start now!

* * *

It was a bright, sunny Thursday morning in the town of Mesa. At the high school, students shuffled into the school building, Stella among them. Her body was weary, her shoulders slumped, and there were bags under her eyes, but she bravely dragged herself to her locker.

For the past few days, she dreaded school. Granted, she dreaded school all the time, but it wasn't as bad in the last few months. Ray always gave her something to look forward to…

At the thought of the blonde, the young revolutionary shook her head free of the thoughts. No, she would absolutely not go there right now. She had her test on Monday to worry about.

Finally reaching her locker, Stella put in the combination and lazily opened it. As her eyes dragged over the various books and notebooks, picking out which ones she needed for the day, her eye caught something unfamiliar. It was a lone piece of folded paper, just sitting there on top of her History textbook, her name scrawled on the front in familiar handwriting.

Curiously, Stella took it out and unfolded it. It was a sheet from a music notebook, and her eyes scanned the page. Her mouth tilted up into a smile. Someone had written her a song, and not just any song. It was her Chemistry lesson, written to the melody of "Here We Go."

The person who gave this to her knew her well. She memorized songs far quicker and easier than facts and figures. This was a tremendous help!

Throughout the day, in between lessons, Stella snuck peeks at the music sheet, memorizing and even tapping her foot to the beat of the song. By the time lunch came, she had already memorized the first verse and thus, remembered concepts for her test that she had trouble with just the day before.

Humming the tune to herself, she got into the lunch line. The cafeteria was serving chili cheese fries and though she couldn't eat the chili, she could have the cheese with the fries, which would be perfect with the homemade tofu burger her mom packed for her. As soon as she got her fries on a lunch tray, she headed over to Lemonade Mouth's usual table.

But, before the revolutionary guitarist could get there, her path was intercepted by red hair and a sneering face.

"Oh, is that for me?" Patty said, picking up the box of cheese fries with a smirk.

Stella huffed. "Give that back, it's mine."

"And you don't want to share? How rude, Stella."

"Rude is you taking my fries without permission. Now, give it back before I-."

"Before you cry, 'Ray'?" Patty smiled, maliciously. "Oh, wait, never mind. He hates your guts."

Stella's cheeks turned red as her chest tightened. No. She would not let Patty get into her head. "Give. Me. The Fries," she said in a tone that meant business, accompanied by the infamous Yamada glare.

Patty faltered for a second, but then smirked. She took a fry from the box and oh-so-delicately ate it, keeping her eye on the Asian girl, who was trying her best not to reach out and grab the redhead's hair.

Then, the cheerleader shrugged. "You can have them."

SPLAT!

The whole lunchroom gasped as Stella stood in her place, unable to move as she stared at the box, now empty on her tray, and the cheese fries splattered all over the front of her shirt.

Patty pouted, as if she hadn't just shoved an entire box of cheese and fries at the other girl's chest. "Oops."

 _I'm going to murder her_ , Stella thought, getting ready to pounce on the cheerleader.

"Patty! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

At the new voice, Stella remained frozen, her eyes wide as her heart began to beat faster.

Ray sidled up to the two, carrying his own tray of a burger and chili cheese fries. At the appearance of the jock, Patty began to look nervous, suddenly stepping away from the girl she was tormenting earlier.

"It was an accident, Ray, I swear!" she defended.

A few students around them began to protest, and she threw them a murderous glare that shut them up immediately, and they flashed apologetic looks to Stella.

But, Ray, of course, wasn't stupid. He knew what happened and glared down at Patty.

"She's not worth the time," he said to the red-head, not even looking at Stella.

Her heart stung at that. No matter how hard she tried to tell herself that it didn't matter, that she was fine with Ray not talking to her anymore, it killed her inside. She missed him. She really, really, irrevocably missed him. She missed him teaching her, making her laugh when she was stressed, annoying her when she was being stubborn, teasing her until she was red… She missed all of it.

Ray flashed Patty a look that meant business. "Pay her for the fries."

The cheerleader didn't move.

"Patty."

The red-head sighed, reaching into her book bag and pulling out her wallet. Begrudgingly, she dropped a dollar bill and 75 cents onto Stella's tray, before Ray grabbed her arm and pulled her away without another word.

Meanwhile, Stella remained standing where she was, not really comprehending what just happened. Part of her wanted to march up to Patty and yank those fake extensions out. Another part wanted to run after Ray and beg him to talk to her again.

But, in the end, she ended up heading to Lemonade Mouth's lunch table anyway. She wasn't in the mood for cheese fries anymore.

No one was there yet, the others were running late, so she did her best to wipe the cheese stains away from her shirt as she waited for her friends to arrive. Soon, they did, bearing their own trays of cheese fries, laughing and joking with each other. They paused as they took in Stella's state, moody and dirty shirt to boot.

"Whoa, what happened, Stell?" Wen voiced in concern, as he and Olivia sat to her right.

Charlie settled on her left, while Mo and Scott took the spots on the other side.

"Patty happened," she grumbled and proceeded to tell them what the cheerleader did.

Sympathetically, her friends shared their own cheese fries with her. And sweet Charlie even took off his hoodie and gave it to her to wear to cover the stains. Stella smiled at him gratefully and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, squeezing him to her side before reaching up to ruffle his hair, affectionately.

She then gave her attention to Mo's boyfriend.

"Hey, Scott."

The back-up guitarist looked up at her. She smiled at him.

"Thanks for the song, by the way. It really helped."

Beside him, Mo's brows furrowed in confusion. "Song?" she asked.

"Yeah, he wrote a song to help me remember Chem to 'Here We Go's melody," Stella replied, taking the sheet out of her front jean pocket. "I've been memorizing it all morning, and it's helping a lot. Thank you."

Scott's eyes widened, but then gave her a soft smile. "I'm glad it's helping," he said, before proceeding to stuff his face with fries.

As they chattered about, Stella couldn't help the feeling of love and appreciation for these people she came to call her best friends. They were always there for her, no matter how crazy she was. She felt so lucky.

But, she also couldn't help the feeling that something was missing in this group of friends of hers. Someone. She knew who it was. She just didn't want to admit it.

* * *

Although he swore to himself never again, Ray took a few peeks at the Lemon Heads' table. Stella was all alone at first, and it took every bit of willpower he had to not march over there and keep her company. He had to sit on his hands to make sure that he didn't take off his varsity jacket and give it to her to wear over that disgusting stain.

Damnit, Patty.

Naturally, he ignored the cheerleader's attempts to sweeten him up, until she gave up and went to the basketball team's table instead, where Jules could sympathize with her sorrows.

"Hey, Ray."

The blonde turned his head to see Derek and his other teammates watching him, warily.

"What?" he asked, before lazily taking a bite of his burger.

"You know, man, if you wanna talk to her… you can," the Forward said, sympathetically.

Ray glared, and normally, his teammates would stop trying to get into this business by now. But, ever since Stella… ever since Stella thawed his cold, frozen heart, they became less afraid of him (except for the freshmen, they were terrified of all the older students). Ray wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Derek just raised his eyebrows at him. "I'm just saying, man. You just looked like you miss her."

"I don't miss her," Ray hissed at them before taking his bottle of blueberry Turbo Blast and taking a swig.

Nodding their heads and deciding not to push him further, the rest of the team went back to their earlier chatter.

Meanwhile, Ray's head turned slightly towards the Lemon Heads' table again. The rest of them had arrived and were now keeping Stella company. The blonde's eyes narrowed as he watched the brunette drummer unzip and take off his hoodie, and place it over Stella's shoulder. He could practically feel his nostrils flaring as Stella smiled gratefully at the drummer as she slipped her arms inside the sleeves before zipping up the hoodie to cover her stain-covered shirt.

When Stella hugged the drummer and messed up his hair, Ray began to see green.

She was wearing another man's jacket. And he was not pleased. Not in the slightest. It didn't even look good on her!

"Uh… Ray? You, okay there?"

His teammate Kenny's voice broke him out of his green-eyed haze. He turned to answer, but his teammates' eyes were on his hand. Ray followed their gaze. His hand was crushing the plastic bottle of Turbo Blast he drank from earlier.

Ray immediately let go of it as he turned his back to the Lemonade Mouth table. Maybe it was best to not watch them right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the plot thickens... Please comment! Thank you!


	11. D-Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own "Lemonade Mouth." If I did, "Lemonade Mouth 2" would have happened, and Rayella would be canon.

Often on Saturdays, most high school students would take advantage of this day to go out and have some fun. And Stella normally did, deeming weekends as her personal time off from the stress of school. But not today, not this particular Saturday.

Today, using the song Scott wrote for her as a reference, she tackled Chemistry. The more she learned, the more she slowly slowly gained back the confidence she lost when Ray stopped tutoring her. For once in days, she wasn't afraid for Monday's arrival.

At some point, her mother peeked into her room. "Stella, honey, you've been at that for hours. Why don't you take a break?"

"Maybe in a few minutes, mom," the teen replied, preoccupied with the practice test in front of her.

She heard the door open wider, footsteps getting closer, and then the test was snatched from her hands and slipped into a folder. Her mother looked down at her with an amused smile.

"Even scientists need a break now and then. Now, come downstairs. I was hit with another case of insomnia last night, so I baked a cake."

Baking was a form of stress relief for Mrs. Yamada, and the children were no stranger to waking up to a fresh batch of cookies or some other pastry.

Stella grinned and figured a break wouldn't be so bad. So, she stood up from her desk, stretched, and followed her mother out the door, down the stairs, and into the kitchen where a chocolate-frosted chocolate cake awaited them.

As Stella dug in to her cake, accompanied by a fresh glass of lemonade, her mother watched her, picking at her own piece, silently. This was a normal mother-daughter bonding experience for them. Her mother wasn't a huge conversationalist, except when it came to her research, and she knew her daughter wasn't interested in such. Most of the time, it was Stella who would talk on and on about something, but her mouth was full of cake at the moment.

Finally, her mother broke the silence.

"Stella?"

"Hmm?"

"Where's Ray? I haven't seen him all week. Don't you have that Chem test on Monday? I figured he would be helping you."

The fork paused halfway to Stella's mouth, as her heart stopped at the mention of the blonde. She was getting better at not thinking about him and what happened to their friendship…

Sighing, she put her fork down and stared blankly at her plate.

"Stella? Are you okay, honey?"

She looked up to meet her mother's concerned eyes. She never really talked about boys with her mom before, not even when she had a crush on that one nice guy from her old high school in Rhode Island. Then again, they had moved before she even got to know him. As far as her mother was concerned, Stella had no interest in dating or boys.

But, maybe, just this once…

"Mom? How did dad tell you that he liked you?" she asked, in a soft voice.

Her mother's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh… Well… You know that we met in college, in the library. He always sat in the cubicle behind mine and we didn't really talk to each other for the first couple of months. One day, I needed to borrow an eraser and he was there and, well, we got to talking, we exchanged numbers, and we just talked. A lot. And one day, I arrived at my usual cubicle, and he was there too, but he wasn't talking to me. At first, I thought I did something and he was mad at me. But then…"

At this, her mother's lips tilted upwards into a fond smile, and it made Stella curious and a bit giddy to know what happened next.

"Carved right on the desk were both of our names. Of course, I figured out that it was a new carving, I knew that desk like the back of my hand. Your father is a man of very few words, and that was his way of telling me."

Stella bit her lip, then asked, "What did you do after?"

Her mother paused briefly to think before answering. "At first, I was confused, so I pretended not to see it. I didn't talk about it, and he didn't bring it up. I needed to come to terms with my own feelings, and when I finally figured it out, I talked to him." Her mother gave her a curious look. "Why the sudden questions? Is there something you'd like to… discuss?"

The teen bit her lip again. Should she? Heck, why not?! If her mom managed to figure out her feelings, then maybe she could help Stella.

"Well… there is something…" she began, then hesitated.

Her mother gave her a supportive look. "Yes?"

"Ray… kind of… sorta… told me that he… liked me. And… I don't really know what to do."

"Really? Well, it's about time!"

"Wait, what?"

Stella stared at her mother in utter disbelief, while Mrs. Yamada only grinned.

"Honey, anyone with eyes can see that that boy adores you! He can't stop staring at you when you're not looking and is practically a tomato when you smile! Even Daddy noticed! And you know how clueless he can be with these things! Why do you think he always insists that you and Ray study in the living room instead of up in your bedroom?"

Stella could feel her entire face heating up in embarrassment. Her parents figured out Ray's feelings before she did?! Probably even before he did!

While she was trying to come to terms with the horror of it all, her mother continued to gush over Ray.

"And he's such a nice boy, very different from how he was last year at Rising Star. You know that a boy really likes a girl when he changes for the better, and not even know it! And the way he praises you, Stella! He just sounds so proud of you for every accomplishment in your studies that Daddy and I can't help but feel grateful to him for helping you."

"You know, he only did it for the hours, Mom," Stella muttered.

"Yes, but it didn't have to count late night talks about your other subjects now, wouldn't it?" her mother countered, with a wink.

Stella's blush deepened. She didn't realize that her mother knew about her phone calls to Ray when she was stuck on homework she couldn't figure out. Well, this was just even more embarrassing.

Releasing a groan, the teen pushed the plate of cake aside and placed her arms on the table, plopping her head on top of it.

"But I messed it up," she whispered, and proceeded to tell her mother what happened last Monday. How she pretty much pushed Ray away, not even giving him the chance to prove that what he said was true. And how it was making her miserable because she missed him… She missed him so much.

"What do I do, Mom?" she mumbled, pouting. "I don't even know if I trust his words."

"Well… First of all, thank you for sharing this with me. I had not failed in motherhood after all." Her mother smiled, excitedly. "Second, how do you feel?"

"About?"

"Ray. How do you feel about Ray? Do you like him back?"

"I… I don't know! How do I even know that?"

"Well, why do you think you don't know? Examine the reasons why you might not have a concrete answer."

"It's just… I've hated him for so long, I don't know what else I'm supposed to feel!"

"Do you still feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"Hate. Do you still hate Ray?"

"No!" Stella sat up, quickly in defense. "Of course not! We became friends! Like, actual friends, and I like him a lot-."

"You like him?" her mother grinned.

"No! I mean, yes! I like him… but I don't know if I… like _like_ him… You know what I mean, Mom!"

The red heat was back on her face again, as she tried to explain herself. Meanwhile, her mother was smiling, happily, on the verge of laughter, but holding it in for Stella's sake.

"Well, it seems to me that you have conflicting emotions of the past and the present. Your past emotions say you hate him, but your current ones do not. Which ones do you trust more?"

"I… I don't know."

Her mother placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Well, honey, unfortunately, I can't answer that question for you. Only you can."

Stella bit her lip again. "What do I do, Mom?"

"Try not to think too much about it, because then you'll actually miss the answer. It will come to you at its own pace, at the right time. Right now though, all I can tell you is to not let Ray's efforts be in vain. Do him proud with Monday's test. And after that, try talk to him, patch things up. I'm sure that you don't want to lose him as a friend."

With one more supportive smile, Stella's mother leaned over to hug and kiss her forehead. "My baby's all grown up," she mumbled, giddily.

Stella rolled her eyes, but hugged her mother gratefully in return.

As always, her mother was right. She needed to concentrate on this test. She would make Ray proud, even if he was still mad at her. And, after that, maybe she would finally figure out her own feelings. She just hoped that by that time, it wouldn't be too late.

* * *

It finally arrived. The dreaded Monday was here and that meant the last Chemistry test for the semester, before finals, was to be given that day. And Stella's stomach was in knots from the nerves. She knew her stuff. She was confident. But she was also absolutely terrified.

She met up with Olivia outside the Chemistry lab for some quick review before the test.

"You ready for this, Stell?" the blonde asked her.

Stella's eyes ran over her notes, quickly as she nodded. "I think so. I hope. Liv, I need an A."

"Don't think about grades now. Just go in there and do your best. We both will, okay?"

Stella finally looked up to nod and smile at the other girl. As Olivia smiled back, she looked behind Stella's shoulder and her eyes widened. Curious, Stella turned right on time to see Ray walking past. He didn't look at her. But, what caught Stella off-guard was seeing him on this side of the school at that time; his class was on another floor.

"I think… he wanted to see if you're okay," Liv stated, as the two girls watched the jock disappear into the crowd of students.

Stella turned to her. "How do you know?"

Olivia shrugged as she and Stella made their way into the classroom. "I don't. But, what would he be doing in this side of the building?"

"Maybe he's skipping class."

"That doesn't sound like Ray. You know him better than the rest of us."

It was true. Stella knew how much Ray valued school, even if he showed otherwise to the rest of the student body. Aside from soccer and his music, Ray loved school. Being the soccer star, Mudslide Crush front man, and King of Mesa were the only things that prevented him from being lumped in with the nerds of the school.

Before Stella could ponder any more, Dr. Singh entered the classroom.

"All notes away and pencils out!" she said to the class.

As Stella put away her things, Olivia flashed her an encouraging smile from the desk beside her.

"Good luck," she whispered. "I know you can do it."

"You too," Stella whispered back, with a smile of her own.

When the test was right in front of her, she took one more deep breath and thought back to all her nights of studying for this moment. She began to discretely tap her foot to the beat of 'Here We Go.'

With a confident roll of her shoulders, Stella tackled her test.

She could do this. She was smart, and she knew her own skills. She could do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Finally! The test! Will Stella pass or is it good-bye Lemonade Mouth Summer tour?


	12. Reflection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own "Lemonade Mouth." If I did, "Lemonade Mouth 2" would have happened, and Rayella would be canon.
> 
> A/N: Hi everyone! I apologize for the delay. I had a family emergency. My grandmother got sick and was hospitalized, so my family and I packed our bags and flew to the other side of the world to be with her. Unfortunately, my grandma also doesn't have wifi, so I wasn't able to get online at all. I finally managed to snag a few mins of wifi at a friend's house so I decided to post this. Might be a while for the next one, thank you for being patient!

When lunch time came, Scott arrived at the cafeteria first. It a fairly boring but long morning, and he was starving, so he got his lunch ready while he waited for the rest of Lemonade Mouth to arrive at their lunch table. Later on, Charlie and Wen arrived to join him.

"Where's Mo?" Charlie asked, as he and the red-head sat down.

Normally, Scott and Mo arrived in the cafeteria together, as their classes before lunch were in the same corridor. Today was an exception.

"She said she was going to wait for Olivia and Stella to see how their test went," Scott replied, before taking a bite from his turkey sandwich.

"Ahhh… the legendary Chemistry test that will determine the fate of our fearless leader," Wen narrated, dramatically, as he took out his own lunch of chicken noodle soup and a can of soda. "Granted, there's still finals, but, you know. This is important too." He looked pointedly at Scott. "When are you going to tell her that it wasn't you who wrote that song?"

Scott blushed before swallowing his food and answering. "Ray didn't really want me to tell her…"

"But it's killing you inside," said Charlie, as he opened his pudding cup. "Mo told us."

"Of course she did." The backup guitarist sighed. "I really want to tell her, guys. But, how would she even react to that? Would that even help this… thing with her and Ray?"

"Well, two things can come out of it," Wen began, stirring his soup distractedly. "One, Stella would realize that even after everything that happened, Ray still cares about her, so she would try to make amends with him, possibly confront her own feelings, and they'll make up."

The red-head pianist then began to eat his soup, while the drummer and guitarist watched and waited. Scott's one eye was already twitching, and Charlie was shaking his leg, impatiently. But Wen continued to spoon soup into his mouth, with a thoughtful look on his face.

Finally, the drummer couldn't take it anymore. "And? What's the second thing?"

Wen slowly chewed and swallowed. "Or two, Stella's pride will win and she would be so angry at Ray for interfering and Lemonade Mouth and Mudslide Crush's truce is no more."

The two other boys froze. They did not like the sound of that. But, before they could react (like tell Wen he was crazy), the girls arrived, all smiles and relief on their faces.

Scott felt a twinge of guilt when Stella looked at him with a grateful smile.

"Scott, your song helped a lot! Thank you!" She bounded over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

The rest of the band looked, sympathetically at him. Wen mouthed, "Tell her!" at him.

When Stella pulled away, the brunette could only manage a strained smile. "I'm glad your test went well," he said, through the lump in his throat.

The guitar goddess flashed him one more grateful smile, before excusing herself to grab a can of lemonade. As she headed towards the vending machine, Mo settled next to him, and patted his knee, soothingly.

"It will be okay," she said to him. "I'm sure she'll appreciate the truth."

"And if she doesn't?"

"We'll… figure that out."

* * *

That afternoon's band practice went smoothly for Lemonade Mouth. Their fearless leader was in higher spirits and able to concentrate on the rehearsal. After an hour of singing and dancing to the songs that united them as one, the six friends put away their instruments to concentrate on one more important thing: planning the details for their tour.

Wen's dad, their temporary manager, had been working non-stop the last few months on their tour, so that the six teens could concentrate on school and their music. After months of planning, they finally had dates, locations, and itineraries done. Mr. Gifford had also booked meetings with potential sponsors (Mel's Lemonade already one of them) and scheduled rehearsals with a choreographer. He had also finished auditions for backup dancers, so the band was to meet those who made the cut this coming weekend.

Finals were not for another three and a half weeks, and after that was over, they could start finalizing all the tour details! They were psyched!

"So, we all agree? We're debuting Wen's rap during the tour?" Stella asked, as she looked over their set list.

The rest of the band nodded their heads in agreement. Wen's smile was up to his ears, in excitement, and Olivia was beaming at him, proudly. He had worked non-stop on the rap all week, and although it needed just a little polishing, they were confident that it would be perfect by the time the tour kicked off.

"Great! So let's put it right after Mo's solo. You can do the introduction for him, if you're fine with it, Mo?"

The Indian girl nodded. "Of course!"

Stella made a note on the set list.

"And Olivia and Charlie, you guys are meeting with Lyle, when?"

"Tomorrow during lunch, so we won't be eating with you guys," the blonde answered. "The good news is, he already has a few ideas, so he's just going over it with us tomorrow. We'll pitch a few of our ideas too, especially for Wen's solo."

Since Mesa High's AV Club had been working with Lemonade Mouth since their debut, they were hired to be the production crew for the tour. The band had a great relationship with the Club. Lyle, the Club treasurer who came up with the idea to distribute their music last year and gave them part of the profit, almost fainted in shock when they approached him.

Stella grinned as she made another note. "Great! So… it looks like we're all set for today!"

The band clapped, woohoo-ing and congratulating themselves. Then, they packed up and left the practice room, chatting to each other about whatever came to mind. They were all so excited for this tour!

Outside the school, their rides were already waiting for them. Wen and Olivia said good-bye first, heading over to Sydney's car. Charlie followed behind them, waving to his friends as he got into his brother's car. Meanwhile, Mo turned to Scott and kissed his cheek, flashing him a look and hugging Stella good-bye, before heading to her father's waiting car.

Soon, it was just Stella and Scott left. Stella's mom was a little late in picking her up, and Scott, being the gentleman that he was, decided to wait with her before heading to the soccer fields to catch up with the late night soccer practice. They made small talk about their day, and Stella couldn't help but notice Scott's nervousness. She had noticed it during practice too, but figured that it might have something to do with Mo. What did he have to be nervous about around her?

"Alright, Scott, what's up?" she finally asked, after he made another comment about the weather. "You're acting really weird."

The brunette pursed his lip, as if contemplating, until finally, he sighed with eyes closed. "I have a confession," he said, slowly.

Stella quirked an eyebrow. "Okay?"

"About… that song…"

"What song?"

"The song… for Chemistry?"

"Oh, what about it?"

He flashed her a guilty look. "Um… The truth is…"

Stella waited, not sure why her heart was suddenly pounding hard against her chest.

"What about the song, Scott?"

He swallowed. "I… I didn't write it."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You didn't write it?"

He took a deep breath. "No… Ray did. I mean, I wrote it down. But, he wrote the lyrics. He didn't want me to tell you. He figured you might not want to use it, if it came from him."

Stella could swear that her heart stopped at his words. "R-Ray… wrote the song?" She suddenly felt fury explode inside her, and tears prickling at her eyes. "What? He didn't think that I could do it? He probably thought I was so pathetic that I couldn't pass on my own. So much for believing in me!"

Scott's eyes widened in alarm. "What? No! No, that's not why he did it!"

"Then why?!" Stella stamped her foot in frustration, fists shaking. "I told him that he was done tutoring me! Is he that worried about his so-called reputation that if I failed, I'd maim his honor?!"

"No!" Scott grabbed her shoulders, gently. "Listen to me, Stella. He did it because he cares about you! He knew how affected you were about… whatever it is that happened between you two, and he wanted to help, even if he knew that you wouldn't let him. So, he figured something out. He worked on that song before he worked on his own homework, that's how much Ray cares."

By the end of Scott's explanation, Stella's face was red and a million thoughts were running through her mind. Ray cared about her. Ray knew that she going to have a hard time concentrating with everything that happened. Ray wrote her a song to help her, but knew she wouldn't accept his help. After everything she put him through, he still helped her.

"But… why?" she finally managed.

"You really have no idea how much you mean to him, do you?" Scott pointed out, kindly. "Seriously, Ray has dated many girls, but you're the first to actually make him miserable, Stell."

Before Stella could figure out a response to that, she heard a car horn, signaling her mother's arrival. Scott patted her shoulder with an encouraging smile.

"Just… think about what I said, okay? And when you're ready, talk to Ray. You can't run forever, Stella."

The guitar goddess sighed and nodded before reaching up to hug the taller teen. "Thanks, Scott."

The entire drive home, Stella could only look out the window, deep in thought of the events of the last couple of weeks. Now that the anxiety of Chemistry was gone, she could now truly examine and deduce her own feelings.

She ran away from Ray and his feelings because she didn't understand why her, why of all the nice and decent girls at school, he picked her. What was special about her? Sure, she was a rock star, an inspiring revolutionary to her peers, and she had accomplished so much in the last year alone, but other than that, there was really nothing that special about her for a guy like Ray to be attracted to. But, yet, he claimed that he was.

But what about her? How did she feel about Ray? She still wasn't really sure.

All she knew was that in the last few months, getting to know him, she realized he really wasn't as bad as she initially thought. Yes, he was prideful and stubborn and always wanted things to go his way or the high way. But, he was also passionate and driven when it came to the things he cared about, like school, soccer, and his music. Yes, he was quick to jab and insult at weaknesses, yet he followed it up with advice and suggestions (albeit in a sarcastic tone, but advice nonetheless). While tutoring her, he had shown his patience and ability to listen and understand. Aside from her friends, Ray became one of the few people who could read her very well, who could deduce her moods with one just look. And, as Scott often insisted to Lemonade Mouth, he was a good friend, in his own Ray Beech-way.

Yes, he was a bully. And, yes, he was feared. But, in the last few months, she saw less of the obnoxious Ray Beech that she spat lemonade at, and saw the sweet, hardworking, and supportive Ray Beech that became her friend.

By the time Stella had finished her homework, had dinner, chatted with Mo and Olivia, and gotten ready for bed, she still wasn't sure if she returned Ray's feelings.

But, she knew that tomorrow, she was going to stop running way. Tomorrow, she was going to talk to Ray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Gasp! Will Ray forgive her?


	13. Reconciliation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own "Lemonade Mouth." If I did, "Lemonade Mouth 2" would have happened, and Rayella would be canon.
> 
> A/N: Hey, beautiful people! So sorry this took a while! I was out of the country, with very limited internet, so I couldn't get anything up. Plus, with all the drama and problems surrounding me, I had a serious case of writer's block! But, the good news is, I'm writing again. Bad news... Well, this is most likely the second to the last chapter. I just want to thank everyone for your support and cheers while I was writing this story. At first, it was only to get rid of the boredom. But, I'm really glad that it resonated with some of you, guys! Thank you!

The sun was shining hot down her back and she could smell the fresh, earthy scent of the grass and dirt. Shouts and grunts from the soccer team filled her ears, and nearby, the voices of practicing cheerleaders joined them.

This was where Stella found herself that Tuesday afternoon, at the soccer field, perched on the bleachers. She had hidden herself behind a textbook, worried that if the object of her interest saw her, he would make an excuse to leave. Then, she'd have to find another way to talk to him. She had tried to gather her nerve and talk to him in the morning before Homeroom, during lunch, and again later in the day after the last bell. She lost her nerve each moment she saw him.

What if he turned her away? What if he dismissed her apology? What if he decided to throw away their friendship, for good? What if-

The coach's whistle pierced the air and bark of "Take 5, boys!" shattered Stella's thoughts of "What if's". She swallowed, nervously, and got up from her seat, shouldering her backpack. She scanned the field and found him by one of the benches at the foot of the bleachers, chugging a bottle of water, Scott next to him.

Quickly, before she lost her nerve again, she forced her legs to make their way down the bleachers and towards the two boys. They looked up as they heard her approach. Ray's blue eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion.

"Um… hey," she said in a soft voice.

"Hey," Scott responded with a small smile.

"What do you want, Yamada?" Ray asked, in a bored tone.

Stella noticed that his voice was a little shaky though. She tried to smile at him.

"Can I… talk to you, Beech?" she asked, then flashing Scott a look.

Getting the hint, the brunette clapped Ray on the shoulder. "I'll go see if any of the freshies need help."

And with that, he left the two awkward teens to their own devices.

Stella shuffled her feet, looking down at the grass. Now that he was in front of her, she wasn't sure where to start or how.

"Spill it, Yamada, I don't have all day," the blonde snapped.

His harsh tone pierced into her heart, but it gave her the motivation to lift her head and look him in the eye. The blue orbs that looked back at her appeared dull and tired, and they lost the spark that they usually held during a game of soccer.

She felt a prickling guilt, knowing that part of that dullness was probably her fault.

Gathering her nerve, Stella tried to smile again. "I just want to say… thank you."

Ray gave no reaction, simply stared at her with a blank look.

"For the song," she clarified.

This time, his eyes widened. He suddenly looked very annoyed as he turned his head back to the soccer field.

"Pickett," he hissed. "He wasn't supposed to tell you! That traitor! I'm gonna-."

"I'm glad he did," she interrupted, gently, her smile widening. She saw something flash briefly in those eyes, and it made her braver now, and much more confident. "I can give credit where it's due. And I gotta admit, you have a way with lyrics."

Turning back to her, Ray's chest puffed a little as he rolled his eyes, nonchalantly. But, Stella could see it… the spark!

"Of course I do!" he said to her with a smirk. "Told ya I write awesome songs. Now, you just have to admit that you do like 'And The Crowd Goes.'"

Stella wrinkled her nose. "Baby steps, Beech. Your song was practically a declaration of love to 'Here We Go.'"

She smirked back at him and he opened his mouth to retort, when he stopped, seeming to realize what he was doing. They were bickering again. Their normal, playful bickering.

He schooled his features into nonchalance once more. "Whatever," he scoffed. "Anything else, Yamada? I gotta get back on the field."

Stella's heart sank, feeling disappointment. However, she was not ready to give up! She was Stella Yamada, leader of Lemonade Mouth, revolutionary of Mesa, and rock star extraordinaire. She was not backing down until she succeeded in her mission!

With determination, she took a step closer towards him.

"One more thing," she declared. "I'm… I'm…"

Ray raised an eyebrow as she begun to stutter. Clearing her throat, she gathered her nerve again.

"I'm sorry," she finally said. "I'm sorry for firing you. I'm sorry for just dismissing your feelings. I'm sorry for insulting you when I thought you were trying to trick me. I'm sorry for treating you in such a horrible way!"

Although she promised she wouldn't let her emotions get the best of her, Stella felt the prickling in her eyes: the threat of tears.

Looking at Ray to see his response, she could only see shock written all over his face, his mouth agape. He couldn't seem to find the words to answer so Stella continued.

"Ray, I miss you," she confessed. "I miss you so much. I miss our talks, our bickering, when we would try to one-up each other. I miss you calling me a Lemon Head, and I miss calling you a pompous jerk. I miss you raiding my pantry for anything matcha, and I miss changing the songs in your radio when you're driving me somewhere. I miss you. I miss our friendship. And I want it back."

He still didn't answer her.

"Please," she pleaded.

With that, Stella allowed a few of the tears to fall, but she lowered her head, so her hair covered her face and he wouldn't see her looking so… vulnerable. Weak. Not Stella.

Who was she kidding? Ray would never take her back! He was prideful and she hurt him! Why would he forgive her?

"Stella."

Hearing his voice finally, finally say her name for the first time in two weeks, the teenage girl lifted her hands to her face and frantically wiped away the tears. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she looked up at the soccer star.

He still looked shocked. But… he was now smiling. Albeit, it was a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. He took a step closer to her.

"You mean it?" he asked, in a hopeful tone.

Stella smiled and nodded. "All of it. I miss you, Ray. And…" She took another deep breath. "I don't know… how I feel about you. Not yet. I don't have an answer to your feelings. I'm sorry."

Her heart sank when she saw the smile slip from his face. But, it was back soon, just sadder this time. She really wished she could bring other smile back, instead.

"Stella," he said, in a gentle tone. "I'm not going to stop liking you. You know that, right?"

She nodded. "I know."

He took a step closer to her. "You said you want to be friends again. But, you have to know, that my feelings are not going to change. Even if I was mad as hell at you, I haven't stopped liking you. Trust me, I tried really hard to stop."

For some odd reason, those last words made Stella's stomach feel funny, but she ignored it.

"Does this mean we're friends again?" she asked, hopefully.

Ray flashed her a smirk before reaching out with a hand and ruffled her hair.

A whistle pierced through the air, breaking the two teenagers' moment.

"Everybody back on the field!" the coach barked.

Ray turned his head towards the field before looking back at Stella. "I gotta go," he said, pointing with a thumb behind him.

She nodded. "Yeah. Go on. Thanks. For the talk."

Ray turned around and began to jog away. Stella, too, turned on her heels to walk away when she heard her name being called out. She turned.

Ray was smirking at her. "I missed you too," he called out before taking off towards the field where his team was waiting.

The heat rose to Stella's cheeks, as a wonderful feeling bubbled in her stomach. She caught herself smiling as she continued to walk away from the soccer field, heart much lighter and happier than it had been in days.

* * *

The next few days at school were normal. Well, as normal was it was for Stella, but now, she walked around with a new bout of confidence and a bit more cheer in her step. Ray now waved and said "hi" to her when they passed each other in the hall, and she found herself always in a much better mood when it happened.

It had already spread to the whole school by Thursday that the two most influential teens of Mesa High were on speaking terms again. Unfortunately, they haven't really had the time to truly sit down and have a conversation since that fateful Tuesday afternoon. Stella was busy getting preparations done for the tour and Ray had the very last soccer game that very Friday so he was busy with practice.

Nonetheless, they were undoubtedly friends again. And this also made the band much happier and less anxious than they were the previous weeks. Of course, this also meant that Lemonade Mouth and Mudslide Crush's truce was still intact.

That Thursday, the band prepared for their regular Thursday gig at Dante's per usual. Except, this time, Scott was a little late from soccer practice, so he missed the first three sets, but Olivia easily took over his guitar parts. By the time he arrived, they were halfway through "Somebody."

Stella almost missed a chord in shock, as she saw Ray and the rest of the soccer team follow Scott into the restaurant and settle in one of the corner tables. The blonde flashed her a smirk and a wave and she smirked back, with a questioning face. He rarely attended their gigs since he was usually tired from soccer practice each time, and with the final match of the season coming up, she knew he was exhausted.

But, he was there… at Dante's… watching them play.

"Oohh… Somebody," Olivia finished the song, and the crowd clapped enthusiastically.

The band bowed with large smiles on their faces.

"Thank you, everyone!" Stella announced to their enthusiastic fans. "We'll be taking a short break and when we come back, our handsome guitarist, Scott Pickett, is finally here to grace us with this presence!"

The crowed hollered some more, a few girls screaming Scott's name.

Tired but happy, the band made their way to their table to relax and hydrate. Scott was already there, tuning his guitar. He looked up as they approached, and apologized for his lateness, explaining that Coach wouldn't let him leave early, so he had to stay for the entire practice.

"Fine, we forgive you," Mo teased.

"Yeah, but you better win tomorrow's game!" Charlie said, with a laugh.

"Haha, don't worry, we will," Scott swore with a proud smirk. "As always, Ray will lead us to victory. And speaking of Ray, I was surprised he wanted to come tonight. He was practically sleeping on the ground by the time Coach let us go!"

Stella turned her head over to where the soccer team sat and saw that yes, Ray was falling asleep. He wasn't hunched over the table with his head on his hands, but Stella could see his bleary unfocused eyes, and how he ignored his teammates' conversation, opting to just stare at his glass of coke.

 _He should have gone home,_ Stella thought to herself, worriedly.

"Why didn't you tell him to just go home?" Wen asked.

Scott shrugged. "He wanted to come. Said he was hungry." But, then he looked pointedly at Stella. "I think he just wanted to see you."

At his statement, Stella blushed. "Or maybe he's just hungry," she insisted, feeling the heat going to her ears now. Great, now she had to play their last few sets with red ears.

Now, the band were flashing knowing smirks at each other, and continued to do so until their break was over. The red in Stella's ears remained.

* * *

Ray was tired. No, tired was an understatement. He was exhausted!

He should have gone home. Tomorrow was the final game, and he still had some homework to do (granted, all his teachers gave him an extension, but he'd like to get most of it over with). He needed rest. But… he really wanted to see Stella play tonight.

Now that their friendship was officially back, he wanted to spend more time with her. But, this week was, unfortunately, really busy for Ray. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't drop everything to hang out with her. He didn't have tutoring as an excuse anymore, though technically, he still owed Stella ten more hours of service hours, even if Dr. Singh did sign the papers (he hadn't submitted them; they remained untouched in his locker). But, because he was busy this week with preparing for the match, they hadn't had the chance to talk. Ray didn't know if being friends again meant that he was re-hired or not.

Either way, he really wanted to talk to her again. He missed her so much. And he was ecstatic when she was the one who approached him to make amends. He owed Scott for that.

Sure, she had no response to his feelings as of yet, and maybe she would never figure it out, but he'd rather keep her as a friend than lose her forever.

That was why he came tonight. He was hoping they could talk after Lemonade Mouth's gig.

Watching her up there, with the biggest and most content smile on her face, it made Ray's heart soar. Feeling exhausted was worth it if it meant seeing her so happy, and he always wanted to see that smile on her face. It was one of the things they had in common, their love of music.

Granted, Mudslide Crush hadn't played at the Garage in a while due to their senior members busy with senior year and graduation, but this summer, he swore to bring back the Crush's former glory, and with better songs. He had started writing again, a couple of lyrics here and there, nothing cohesive quite yet. But, he was hoping that maybe, Stella could help him with melodies; she was pretty good at those. Maybe they could collaborate too.

Ray would love nothing more than to sing with Stella… even just once. His heart longed for it.

With the strum of the last chord and the last beats of the drums, Lemonade Mouth's performance for the night ended. The band said their thank you's and good night's and began to pack up their instruments and gear.

Ray shook himself awake, gulped down his soda, and stood up. He left some money for his share of the food and drink on the table, said good bye to his team, and strode towards the stage and began to help the band with packing up.

"Thanks for the help, Ray," Stella said to him with a smile as Ray closed up the last box of amplifiers.

He smiled back. "No problem, Yamada. Just my way of saying thanks."

She quirked a questioning brow. "Thanks for what?"

"For taking me back," he replied, heat rushing to his cheek. He sounded like such a sap!

"I should be saying that to you," she said, in a shy tone.

Ray shrugged. "Yeah, well…"

"If you two are done making googly eyes at each other, can you help us take these out front?" Charlie called from where he just finished packing up his drum set. "Tommy will be here soon."

Ray and Stella both flushed at the band's teasing gazes, and proceeded to haul the equipment and instruments outside. They only had to wait a few minutes until Charlie's brother arrived to pick him up and take the equipment home.

A few minutes later, Wen's stepmother arrived for Wen and Olivia. That was Scott's cue to take Mo home, and Stella usually hitched a ride with them. As they packed the instruments into Scott's trunk, Ray made a move.

"If you want, Stell, I can drive you home," he said, glad that his voice lacked the nervousness he was feeling.

She hesitated. "It's kind of late, Ray," she said. "And I know you, you're going to do homework tonight even though you should really rest up for your game tomorrow."

"I don't mind. Really, Stella. Let's give these two lovebirds some privacy."

"So you two can have your own privacy?" Scott teased.

Ray glared at him, and was satisfied when Mo elbowed her boyfriend's rib.

"Go on, Stella," Mo said, and before Stella could protest, Mo reached into the backseat where Stella's guitar case was, and placed it in Ray's waiting hands. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She wrapped Stella in a quick hug and a nod to Ray before getting into Scott's car. Soon, they were gone too, leaving the two alone.

At first, they simply stood there, blushing and avoiding each other's eyes.

Finally, Ray cleared his throat. "Yeah, let's go then."

Stella nodded and followed him to his car.

They drove to Stella's in nerve-wracking silence, the truck's radio the only sound they can hear. Stella was sitting up straight, clutching her knees. Ray, himself, was feeling a little nervous, his grip on the steering wheel tight. During the drive, a country song came up and Stella wrinkled her nose. As was her habit when she didn't like a song, she changed the station.

"Hey, I like Blake Shelton!" Ray complained.

"Well I'd like to keep my ears from bleeding so suck it up," Stella countered.

They paused for a minute before bursting into laughter.

"I missed this," Stella said, sitting back against the seat.

"Me too," he answered, his grip on the steering wheel relaxing.

The rest of the ride was a comfortable silence, Stella playing with the radio station, and Ray complaining about it, but not making a move to stop her.

Finally, they arrived at the Yamada residence. Ray placed the car in park and watched as Stella got her backpack ready. He had a sudden flashback of the day he confessed his feelings and kissed her. That was one of the most nerve-wracking yet happiest days of his life. And right now, he wanted to kiss her again.

But, no, he knew he couldn't surprise her again. Not like that. He wouldn't risk losing whatever this was between them now. He swore that the next time he kissed Stella Yamada, it was because she wanted him to.

Stella looked over at him and smiled. "Thanks for the ride," she said.

"See you at school tomorrow?" he asked.

To his surprise, she moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. He froze for a second, his heart pounding. When he could finally move his own arms, he managed to return her hug. It was their first hug. Funny how the kiss happened first before an actual hug.

But, Ray liked it. A lot. She was so small, yet so warm, and she still smelled like pineapples. Even now, he never had the nerve to ask her what it was.

When she pulled away, he instantly missed the feel of her against him.

"See you tomorrow," she confirmed, before getting out of the truck.

She opened the backseat to take her guitar, and with one last smile at him, she said good-bye and walked up to her house.

Ray waited until she was safely inside before closing his eyes and releasing a loud, breath of relief.

 _That girl will be the death of me,_ he thought to himself.

Opening his eyes, his lips quirked into a smile. _But it's not such a bad way to go._

Humming to himself, Ray put the truck in gear and headed for home with a satisfied smirk on his face. He suddenly wasn't tired anymore.

LEMONADE

As soon as Stella got to her room, she collapsed on her bed, heart pounding and cheeks flushed.

She hugged Ray. For the first time since they declared their odd friendship, she hugged him. And he felt so warm, and his chest was comfy, and he smelled really nice! She wondered what aftershave he used.

After a gig, she was always too exhausted to do any more work. But, seeing Ray at Dante's tonight, cheering them on, and then have him take her home like the last two weeks never happened, it gave her this new burst of energy that she couldn't explain. She felt like she could take over the world right that second.

Before she knew what she was doing, Stella grabbed her phone and sent a text to Mo.

_Are you going to the game tomorrow?_

A few seconds later, Mo responded. _Of course. I always do. Why? Wanna come ;)_

Stella rolled her eyes at the winky face before responding. _Yeah._

The response took longer this time, and Stella had to chuckle at Mo's response. _OMG REALLY? OMG IT'S A MIRACLE! HOW IS THIS HAPPENING? DOESN'T MATTER! YOU'RE COMING TO THE GAME!_

_Okay calm down. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Got homework._

_Love ya, Stell. 3_

_Love ya too, Mo._

And with that, Stella placed her phone aside and opened her backpack.

Time to tackle some homework!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Yes! They're finally reconciled! But, will they get together? Will Stella finally figure out her feelings? Stay tuned!


	14. Of Soccer Games And As

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Lemonade Mouth.
> 
> A/N: Guyssss!!! I'm so sorry for this super duper late chapter! I've been very busy with work. I also haven't been inspired much. I kept trying to write the ending, but it wasn't coming to me and I wasn't satisfied with what I had several times. And, because I wanted to give you guys my best work, I decided to wait for the right inspiration to strike me. And it did! Here is the final chapter and I hope that it's to your satisfaction!

When it came to soccer, Ray was usually confident and full of life. As Captain, it was his duty to show no fear during a game to boost his team’s confidence. But, this game was different, as he later on realized.

When Coach had them huddled up to explain tactics to them one more time, Ray happened to look up at the stands. As usual, his parents weren’t there, always preferring to work than attend his games. He could see the normal faces of student fans, his flock of freshman admirers, and a couple of parents. Just the usual people he saw during soccer games.

But today, up in the stands, there was a new face. Rather, new faces.

Mo was always present for soccer games, wearing Scott’s varsity jacket and holding up a colorful sign with his name on it. Seeing her wasn’t a surprise. It was the four other people sitting on either side of her. Wen. Charlie. Olivia. And Stella.

Seeing the fiery revolutionary up there, clutching a bag of popcorn and looking a bit bored, Ray felt the nerves full force. She was here. Was she here for him? Wait, what if Mo just forced them all to go? Besides, she never went to his games before. Why would she even be here?

“Beech! Focus!” Coach snapped at him and Ray turned his attention back to the tactics.

When they all understood the plan and Coach finished his “No matter what happens, I’m proud of all of you” speech, they yelled out their battle cry and split.

Ray, once more, looked up at the stands. Stella was watching him and when he caught her eye, she grinned and waved enthusiastically. The rest of Lemonade Mouth cheered, yelling his name.

That must have been a strange sight for the students of Mesa, who all thought that Lemonade Mouth simply tolerated Ray’s existence for the sake of their leader.

But, the soccer captain didn’t care about all that. Stella was here and whether she was forced to come here or not, she was clearly cheering him on. And this gave Ray all the motivation he needed to win this game, no matter what!

* * *

Stella cheered alongside her fellow Mesa students.

They won! They actually won!

She usually didn’t care, but this time, she did! Because Ray was truly amazing when he was out on the field, full of confidence and passion, the same way he was on stage!

With a slight bounce in her steps, she and the rest of the band followed Mo down the bleachers towards the field where Mesa’s soccer team were all jumping up and down in joy. On the shoulders of two of them was Scott, waving their trophy in the air; he had scored the winning shot that made them champions.

The band squeezed through the sea of students and parents also trying to go down the fields to congratulate the team. Mo ran up to the students holding Scott, waving her banner and screaming, “I’m so proud of you!”

Meanwhile, Stella turned her head in different directions, trying to find the one soccer player she wanted to congratulate. There were too many people, and she was unfortunately vertically challenged. She caught a glimpse of blonde, red, and brunette heads heading for Scott and was about to call out to them when she felt a hand on her arm.

“You looking for me, lemon head?” said the playful teasing voice she knew too well.

Stella turned to see the tired-looking soccer captain, sweaty and covered in dirt and grass from head to foot. But, he was sporting the biggest smile Stella had ever seen him bear and it made her heart quicken against her chest.

“Ray!” she exclaimed, jumping at him and throwing her arms around his neck. “Congratulations! You guys were amazing!”

With no hesitation, Ray wrapped his arms around her waist to hug her closer. He smelt of sweat and grass, but Stella didn’t mind. Being in his arms, she felt nothing but contentment.

“I’m glad you came,” he whispered. “I think I played better because of you.”

She felt the heat rush to her cheeks and was glad that he couldn’t see her face. She was so sure she looked like a tomato right now.

Soon, Ray pulled away, and Stella immediately missed the warmth and comfort of his arms. But, he kept her close, his hands on her waist.

“Thank you,” he said, his eyes shining in happiness and adoration.

The soccer team won, but Stella felt like she was the real winner. Seeing that smile on Ray’s face, feeling his arms around her, and the way he was looking at her, as if her being here was more important than the game they just won, it was overwhelming. Stella didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry, maybe both?

And as she continued to look at Ray, she felt something bubbling in her chest. It was warm and made her tingle all over. She felt like she could do anything, she could take over the world, if Ray was by her side.

“Ray…” she started.

“Hmm? What is it?” he asked her, with a questioning gaze.

“I… Ray, I think-.”

“Ray!”

Stella was pushed to the side while Ray was being surrounded by the cheerleaders. They were screaming and jumping up and down around him.

“Ray, you were great!”

“You looked so hot!”

“OMG, you’re the best!”

“Coach says we have to take a picture now before the victory party! Come on!”

They grabbed him by the arms and started pulling him away, but Ray dug his heels to the ground, looking back at Stella.

“Wait, Stella…”

The Lemonade Mouth leader just flashed him a smile, even though the warmth in her chest was slowly dissipating.

“It’s okay!” she called out to him.

“But-.”

“Take the picture and go to the party! I’ll see you on Monday!”

He frowned. “Are you sure?”

She nodded and gave him two thumbs up. “You’re the man, Beech!”

He finally smiled. “Alright. I’ll text you!”

With that, he finally allowed the cheerleaders (who were glaring daggers at Stella) to drag him away. And she could only watch, as the feeling in her chest bubbled to the surface again with that one smile.

This feeling… She finally realized what it was…

* * *

That Monday found the students of Mesa High School still in a celebratory mood after Friday night’s game. Members of the soccer team were clapped on the back, high-fived, and congratulated wherever they went.

Stella could only catch glimpses of Ray that morning. He was always surrounded with fans. And because of rehearsals and preparation for the tour, they didn’t get to see each other that weekend either. Saturday was spent going over choreography with the backup dancers and Sunday was all day in Charlie’s garage, polishing their songs.

She really needed to talk to him, face-to-face.

With a heavy heart (though she wasn't exactly sure why) she attended her glasses in a gloomy and anxious mood.

Stella had a cloud hovering over her head until the end of Chemistry class when Dr. Singh handed back all of their tests. The teacher flashed her a proud smile.

“Good job, Stella,” she said, patting the student’s shoulder.

Stella’s brows furrowed and looked down at her test. Her heart started to speed up as she couldn’t stop the wide smile from forming on her face, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

On the right-hand corner of the test was a bright red A.

She passed. Not only had she passed. She A-ced her test. She actually A-ced her test! And it was all thanks to…

 _Thanks to Ray_ , she thought to herself, blushing at the thought of the blonde-haired jock.

Her mind flashed back to the hours she spent with Ray tutoring her, teaching her in ways that he knew she would understand. She looked back on their tentative friendship that eventually bloomed into something so much more on Ray’s part. And now, with this bright red A staring back at her, the product of her hard work, the product of the time she spent with Ray, she couldn’t deny what she was feeling anymore.

Olivia sidled up to her, holding her own test that also held an A.

“Oh my gosh, Stell! You A-ced it!” she exclaimed, excitedly.

Stella looked up at her with a bright smile. “Yeah… I did,” she said, with a bright smile.

She stood up and grabbed her backpack from the floor and shoved her notebooks and books in before turning to Olivia.

“I have to find Ray,” she stated, determinedly.

Before Olivia could say another word, Stella ran out of the classroom. She weaved in and out between the students, determined to get to her goal.

She had to find him. She had to thank him. And she had to tell him exactly how she felt. She wasn’t going to let this go. She wasn’t afraid of this, whatever this was. She was Stella Yamada!

Just as the determined teen reached the hallway that led to the cafeteria, she caught a glimpse of Scott with some of his soccer team friends about to enter through the doors. And when Scott and the soccer team were around, it meant…

“Ray!” she called out, waving her arms in the air.

The blonde stopped and turned his head. When he caught her eye, he flashed her a beaming smile and a wave.

Stella’s heart started beating fast again, and it most definitely was not from the running. No. It was from that smile. That bright smile that was just purely Ray Beech.

Suddenly, it didn’t matter anymore that they were surrounded by other students. In that moment, it was just the two of them,

With a grin, she ran up to him. “I got an A!” she announced, jumping into his arms, her arms locking around his neck.

He dropped his textbook in surprise. It made a loud “thud” sound as he caught the teenage girl around the waist.

“Ray! I got an A!” she announced again, squealing in happiness.

She heard him laugh in delight. “I knew you could do it! I’m so proud of you!”

He squeezed her waist once and then gently let go. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she continued to look up at him.

“It’s all because of you,” she stated, showing him the test with both hands.

Ray waved a hand. “I know,” he said, smugly before chuckling. “Actually, no. It was all you, lemon head. I just helped a little.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and shoved the test into the pocket of her backpack. “You still owe me 10 hours.”

He waved a hand again as he picked up his textbook from the floor and also stuffed it into this backpack. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll tutor you for finals, Yamada, you don’t have to beg for it,” he said, playfully and with no hint of mockery.

Stella took a moment to take in his genuine smile, his proud eyes. Something was still nagging at her.

“Ray? Why do you like me?” she suddenly asked in a soft voice.

His eyes widened in surprise, his cheeks reddening. “You… really want to talk about this here? Now? Seriously, Yamada?”

She flashed him a stubborn look. At that, he sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair.

 “I… I like you ‘cause you’re you,” he began. “You’re stubborn as hell, but passionate. You have a sharp tongue, but you tell the truth as you see it. You act badass like you don’t care, but deep inside, you do. You’re just… You’re Stella. And I never thought I’d like Stella Yamada. But, joke’s on me. I ended up liking her more than I thought I would. Maybe… Maybe the real lemon head here is me for even liking someone as crazy as you.” His eyes sparkled as he spoke. “But, I don’t mind so much, if it means I get to see you laughing at my lame jokes and dancing on stage or singing in the car. I don’t even care if you sing ‘Here We Go’ over and over again if it means I get to see you smile. And I-.”

Stella interrupted him by pressing her lips to his. Ray let out an unmanly squeak of surprise that made her smile, before he started kissing back.

He was still a jerk. He was still such a total jerk. But, behind all that, he was also kind. The side of him that he rarely showed to anyone, but he bared it all to Stella. And for some mysterious and unknown reason, he liked her. He liked her, all hot temper, fiery passion, and sarcastic Stella Yamada.

And she liked him. All mean, sarcastic, yet secretly kind and sweet Ray Beech. And for a jock, his lips were really soft. 

When she finally pulled away for air, she could vaguely hear the clapping and hoots of their classmates.

Ray’s eyes were still wide in surprise. “Stell…”

“Please don’t make me say it, Beech,” she said, already feeling her entire face turn red.

Ray grinned mischievously. “Hey! I had to say it! I said it several times! You know how painful it was for me to admit it over and over again? It’s only fair, Ya-.”

“Fine, fine! I like you too, okay?” she hissed, looking down at her shoes.

“What? What’s that? I don’t think I heard-.”

“I like you too, okay, Beech?!” she shrieked, before covering her mouth with a hand in horror.

“WOOHOO!”

“FINALLY!”

“ABOUT TIME! WE THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO DIE!”

“BRIAN, YOU OWE ME MONEY!”

“PAY UP, ANDERSON!”

Ray’s eyes glinted. “They betted on us?! You can’t bet on us!”

“How could you, guys?!” Stella turned to their classmates exchanging cash. “Where are your manners and principles?!”

The students ignored them and went on their merry ways. It was lunch time after all. The drama was over now. Even the soccer team, after flashing Ray grins and thumbs ups, retreated to the cafeteria.

Stella and Ray turned back to each other, slight blushes dusting their cheeks now, but faint smiles at their lips.

“So… what now?” Stella asked, tentatively, not really sure what to do. She had liked guys in the past, but had never confessed before. Not like this. Not like with Ray.

Ray pursed his lips. “We could… take it slow… Like… maybe… a date?” he asked, shyly. “Say, Friday night?”

Stella tried to fight the grin that threated to form on her face as she tried to her cool and her heart from beating too fast.

“Yeah… that… sounds cool,” she answered.

They smiled at each other. Ray pointed with his thumb towards the cafeteria. “We should… go to lunch.”

Stella nodded. “Yeah… lunch.”

They stepped into the busy lunch room together. Stella flashed him a smile and was about to head to where the rest of Lemonade Mouth were seated when she felt a hand grab hers, gently.

“Wait,” Ray said, pulling her back next to him. "I've been wanting to ask."

She waited.

"Why do you smell like pineapple?"

Stella blinked. "Um... it's my shampoo. Why?"

Ray smiled and nodded, with a satisfied look. She raised an eyebrow and was about to ask why when the soccer team captain put his bag down on the floor and removed his varsity jacket.

To her surprise, Ray lifted the straps of her backpack from her shoulders and dropped it on the ground next to his. Then, (to her secret delight) he placed the jacket around her shoulders and she, by instinct, placed her arms through the sleeves. The jacket was warm, just like him. And it smelled like him.

Ray adjusted the collar before smiling. “There,” he said. “Now, everyone in this whole school knows that you’re Ray Beech’s girl.”

At that, Stella blushed as her heart picked up pace again. Damn, Ray Beech! How could he do this to her?!

“Who said I was your girl?” she retorted, scoffing as she tried to fight a smile.

He grinned and took her hand in his. “Maybe not yet, officially. But, you will be. I guarantee it.” He winked before leaning in to press his lips to hers.

Stella welcomed them, immediately responding. The kiss made her feel all warm and tingly and just... really happy. Happier than she had felt in a long time, the same kind of rush she would get when she was on stage, doing what she loved.

She was tempted to wrap her arms around his neck. Before she could, Ray pulled away.

“I’ll see you around, Stella,” he said, squeezing her hand before picking up their backpacks from the floor.

He handed her hers and swung his onto his shoulder. He leaned in again and kissed her cheek.

“I’m proud of you,” he whispered before walking away towards the soccer team’s table.

With a huge smile on her face, Stella practically skipped to her friends. When she set her backpack down, they all looked up and grinned at her.

“Someone had a good morning,” Wenn commented, teasingly.

Before she could respond, they heard a screech. Turning their heads, they saw Patty, her red hair practically flaring as she stomped over to them.

When the cheerleader reached their table, she looked at Stella with a look of pure hatred and annoyance and was about to open her mouth when her eyes caught sight of the varsity jacket the revolutionary was wearing. The red-head let out another screech and stomped away without saying anything, the other students moving to the sides to avoid her.

It took only a few seconds for Lemonade Mouth to break out in laughter.

“So, does this mean you and Ray are together now?” Mo asked, excitedly. “I can’t wait to have a buddy during games. It gets lonely going alone, sometimes.”

Stella imagined it… what it would be like to be Ray Beech’s girlfriend.

Going to his games and cheering him on, maybe with a large banner with his name on it like Mo’s “Go Scott!” sign, even if she didn’t care about soccer. And Ray going to her gigs, cheering and clapping along, no matter how much he claimed to not like their songs. Afternoons spent at Dante’s with half meat lovers and half veggie lovers pizza and then dessert in the form of frozen yogurt. Weekends spent playing soccer or playing their instruments and writing songs.

And Stella decided that… it didn’t look so bad.

She smirked, mysteriously at Mo. “Maybe,” she answered, before turning her head towards the soccer team’s usual table.

Maybe he had some sort of Stella sense because Ray looked right over to their table and caught her eye.

He smiled, his eyes sparkling. She smiled back.

No, it wouldn’t be so bad. In fact, she might actually like it. A lot.

Besides, even if Ray changed his mind, they had 10 more hours out of the 100 she had given him. And if all goes well (Stella was crossing her fingers), they would have way more than that to find out more about each other, to explore these new feelings, and maybe, just maybe, they could be so much more. 

 _Bring it on, Beech,_ she thought to herself.

As if he heard her thoughts, Ray flashed her a smirk in response, _Right back at you, Yamada._

Also, she really liked his jacket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: There it is! The ending of "100 Hours." A/N: There it is! The ending of "100 Hours." I know they're not instantly boyfriend/girlfriend, but I wanted to be realistic. It takes time and effort to become an official couple and establish an actual relationship. Stella and Ray, in this story, got to know each other less as rivals but more as people and as friends. They started liking each other after being forced to spend time together. And now, they have to continue getting to know each other and exploring their feelings.  
> Wow, I was honestly surprised at the reception of this story, since there really aren't too many "Lemonade Mouth" fanfiction readers these days. Thank you so much for being on this ride with me! This fanfic is one of my precious babies and I'm glad I got to share it with you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
> 
> Remember... "Turn the world into your dance floor!"

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment and feel free to leave constructive criticism!


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